Needless to say, this has caused a lot of controversy. Our society doesn't deal with criminals well. Which would no doubt throw sentencing procedures into complete chaos, as I suspect many criminals would then receive much lighter sentences than they do now. I think people generally need to keep in mind that imprisonment is not a form of revenge. Justice is not retribution.
Good justice involves dealing with the people who are alive, now.
As Morgan Freeman's character says in Shawshank , there's not a moment that goes by that he doesn't feel regret for what he's done, and he wishes he could talk to the stupid kid he was and put some sense into him. The man he killed is dead, and maybe his family is still hurt by that, but for some there comes a point where there's nothing to be gained except revenge by keeping a man locked up. The real problem is telling which men are ready for parole and which are not. That's hard, maybe impossible. But the way we're going now, we're making it harder and harder for us ever to be able to solve that problem.