English to Romanian Art/Literary Idioms / Maxims / Sayings religion

The fourth and final purpose of punishment is the rehabilitation of the criminal. Both capital punishment and lifetime imprisonment can serve this purpose. Capital punishment can help criminals reform by giving them the opportunity to prepare for death. As Samuel Johnson famously noted, "Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully." Lifetime imprisonment can also provide opportunities for rehabilitation and conversion, plus it allows the fruits of repentance ***to become manifest***. However, neither capital punishment nor lifetime imprisonment automatically causes the criminal to repent and reform, since criminals—like every other human—remain capable of free choices for or against loving God and neighbor.