I'm not arguing for Roman Polanski's supporters. I'm just saying, as a matter of principle, that is how I feel about individual cases. The sort of, 'I realized it was all wrong, that everything had to change, and that that change had to start with me.'

I really don't think jail achieves education. Are you kidding me? They 'learn their lesson'? I'm not so naive as to think that criminals really learn shit from being put in shit conditions after, often, having lived in shit conditions their entire lives (Since, you know, the entire prison system is a way of re-enforcing racial and economic inequality, as well). So what's the point? Just deprive them of even more freedom, starve their souls? Sounds fantastic. Seriously, if people aren't endangering society, why do you want them locked up? Hell, why don't we want to honestly deal with people? What's wrong with actually paying them some attention? To hell with lessons and rehabs and punishments. This reminds me of a song I have, "Aw judge, your damn laws, the good people don't need 'em and the bad people don't follow 'em, so what use are they?" We've all learned force, violence, coercion, and revenge are the only ways to accomplish things--it's only a matter of who gets to use them and how. How would we ever expect people to learn to be different when we teach them using the same methods?

Yes, exactly, and there are much better--and more effective, and more humane--forms of communal enforcement than state prison systems.