Have I been raped, or has anyone attempted to murder me? Thankfully not, and I sympathize with anyone who has suffered through either of those horrendous things.

Have I ever been the victim of a crime? Yes, I've been mugged and carjacked at gun point.

As for why I believe what I believe, it is because inflicting harm on someone purely for the sake of harm doesn't benefit anyone. There is not a regain by society from that. The crime is not undone, and we are not guaranteeing in anyway that it will not be repeated. Even if we execute people, the human genome can create a serpent from saints. You will never "kill" this part of humanity, nor will you be able to keep it from sprouting up somewhere else should you contain it in one case. The only hope we have at all of finding meaningful change is discovering the combination of circumstances which allow people to transcend their own evils. Beyond that, we are just satisfying our own sense of blood lust, or vengeance, and furthering the philosophy of laying low that which you hate, even if it's pointless, or even counter productive.

The sentence was likely decided based on the circumstances of the case at hand. We don't know anything about the background of the child, or of the events directly preceding the crime. Them being that, a 14 year old child, also likely played into determining the length of the sentence. It should also be noted that while the sentence was 7 years, the ruling stipulated that this sentence could be extended indefinitely based on the perpetrator's behavior.

Let me be clear; I am not against incarceration. I believe in rehabilitative justice, but as long as a person proves a danger to the public then they should remain safely locked away. The only thing I took issue with was the notion that the meting out of justice should be done via harming those who have harmed.

How does a longer prison sentence do anything for the victim?

Some of us just don't think punishment results in any material improvement in the world, which is what matters. A sense of vengeance doesn't do anything besides reinforce the "me hate, me hurt" mentality that is at the core of these very crimes. I can't speak for everyone, but personally I don't believe in rehabilitative justice merely for sympathy's sake. I want results from my tax dollars.