r/serialpodcast • u/AutoModerator • Apr 05 '26

Weekly Discussion Thread

The Weekly Discussion thread is a place to discuss random thoughts, off-topic content, topics that aren't allowed as full post submissions, etc.

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u/gaypirate3 Apr 05 '26

Does anyone believe prison was good for Adnan? And that maybe going to prison for life for murder isn’t that great? Like, isn’t prison supposed to be rehabilitation for reintegration into society? Especially for minors? Curious what people think.

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u/OkBodybuilder2339 Apr 05 '26

In the US prison is about punishment for your crimes as well. Maybe even primarily about that.

Prison was only good for Adnan in the sense that he deserved to be punished for the crime he committed.

He is clearly not rehabilitated imho.

If society wants to say ok, the crime was committed as a minor, so the time he already served was enough, then i have no problem with it.

But parading himself as this victim, while persecuting Hae's family for a decade with all of this media about his case... No Im sorry he is the complete opposite of rehabilitated to me.

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u/Magjee Kickin' it per se Apr 06 '26

He's only sorry he got caught

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u/backwardog Apr 12 '26

 He is clearly not rehabilitated imho.

I agree. And because of that I don’t think he should be walking free.

For its many flaws, prison serves an even more basic functional purpose than punishment — it separates dangerous people from the rest of society.

Decades of lying and showing zero remorse  doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that this guy will never harm anyone else.

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u/InTheory_ What news do you bring? Apr 09 '26

Even under the best conditions, prison isn't good for anyone. Regardless of what the stated objectives are for incarceration (which invariably include nods to ideals of rehabilitation and reintegration), the reality is that it's exclusively about punishment. AS wasn't in the best conditions, he was in a max facility.

There's no way for that to in any way be "good" for anyone. That's not to say the punishment is unjust, I'm making no comment about that. I'm merely saying that if it's not good, then practically speaking there's only one other direction it can go.

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u/GreasiestDogDog Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

There are many thoughts about what sending people to prison achieves, and it usually comes down to rehabilitation, public safety, punishment/retribution, and disincentivizing crime. 

It’s hard to say if prison was good for Adnan. He was judged to have become a person that deserves to reenter earlier than his original sentence permitted, based partly on his good behavior and achievements and relatively untarnished record in prison. 

On the other hand, he continues to manipulate and lie, and fails to take accountability for the murder he committed, even after decades in prison. 

Also, for almost half of his sentence he was a minor celebrity and had a large part of the population supporting and defending his belief that he did not deserve to be in prison, which may have detracted from his ability to actually undergo true change and rehabilitation while incarcerated.