Original sentence: From the perspective of legal scholars in countries where life imprisonment is an accepted penalty, the 18th article, covering the rights of the accused and the guilty, has a troubling aspect: it recognizes only "social readaptation" (what most people would call rehabilitation) as the primary goal of incarceration.So, the extradition of defendants in this situation isn't allowed unless a non life sentence is guaranteed.The reason Article 18 has become an object of concern for these countries, notably the USA, is that the Supreme Court ruled in October 2001 that life imprisonment constitutes cruel and unusual punishment within the meaning of Article 22, partially because it fails to allow for the possibility of rehabilitation as required by Article 18.This view of incarceration (shared by most European countries) conflicts with other countries' views (including the USA) where accepted reasons for incarcerating criminals include retribution, deterrence and segregation from the general population
Edited sentence: From the perspective of legal scholars outside Mexico (especially those in the USA), the most troubling aspect of the current 1917 Constitution is Article 18, which covers the rights of the accused and the guilty.The concrete effects of the ruling are already evident; over 70% of the outstanding felony warrants in California today are for fugitives thought to be in Mexico.The effective legal result of the Supreme Court's ruling is that people can commit heinous crimes in their home countries and flee to Mexico and escape the long arm of the law.The problem with Article 18 is that it recognizes only "social readaptation" (what most people would call rehabilitation) as the primary goal of incarceration.The reason Article 18 has become an object of concern outside of Mexico is that the Supreme Court ruled in October 2001 that life imprisonment constitutes cruel and unusual punishment within the meaning of Article 22, partially because it fails to allow for the possibility of rehabilitation as required by Article 18.This limited view of incarceration (which Mexico happens to share with most European countries) fails to recognize that according to thinking prevalent in the USA, there may be other sensible reasons for incarcerating criminals, such as retribution, deterrence and segregation from the general population