I'm slightly confused to the opposite. It seems to be a general consensus that a someone who rapes a kid and murders the parents deserves a chance to reabilitate. Or just stay alive in prison and "think about what he's done" for the rest of his life and call that suitable punishment. I know it's not as black-and-white with terms of lesser/serious crimes, so a line must be drawn, and I assume one was drawn in the olden days.
On a side note for those who think some people deserve a chance to reabilitate, how many chances do these people get before we get them to sit on the naughty step from 25 to life?