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As usual, it's a case of "trial by media". Yes, Worboys' offences were horrific, but how do any of us know how eight (or so) years of incarceration, with its courses to address his offending behaviour, have affected him? Personally, I have never spent eight solid years reflecting on my behaviour, so I can only assume that the 24/7 reminder of your bad deeds is pretty effective. I appreciate that he won't have been doing courses all day every day, but surely, each time he thought you'd quite fancy something as simple as a takeaway, he'd have a mental reminder that his criminal behaviour has prevented that. Then you've got the fact that he must convince the parole board (plus the four psychologists who reportedly supported release) that he's learnt his lesson, and that there won't be a repeat. But you won't see this type of narrative in the mainstream media; rather, it's the outrage that he's being released at all.

Personally, I feel it's time that there was more effort put into educating the media and the public in terms of, for example, what a life sentence or an indeterminate sentence actually means, what the minimum term represents and how the individual has to apply for (and is often initially refused) release, the types of things the parole board considers, etc. I appreciate that education doesn't sell newspapers, but it's really getting tiresome that the media almost represents and encourages a lynch mob mentality.

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