Three Sheldons

I can't move past the son's crime. It is horrific sadism and violence. Read about Yu: http://www.wikicu.com/Minghui_Yu

Why should we delude ourselves that he is genuinely remorseful or that he will redeem himself for such a horrific crime? Some criminals reform, others don't. It is a mistake to assume that everyone can or will mend their ways. One consequence of the article's theme, the fact that we don't fully control our destiny (absence of free will) is that the likelihood of recidivism is high.

This was a real pleasure to read (in terms of prose and not content, obviously). I'm gratified to see BuzzFeed make the jump to professional, long-form pieces.

Kudos to the author for the excellent writing, and to the Sheldons for sharing their story. Speaking as a white man who grew up 8 blocks from the apartment mentioned in the article, it's both surreal and saddening to learn how drastically different (meaning unfair) their lives were and continue to be.

I've been reading a lot of articles lately, which describe in detail the sympathetic pasts and life stories of convicted criminals. Personally, I would love to see a balance where victims of crime have their life stories written about and sympathetically depicted as well.

In this article for example, the Sheldon family story was told in great detail, but Yu, a university student who was killed while walking down the street, for no fault of his own, barely got a paragraph or two. I wonder how many of those arguing for more lenient sentencing laws would change their minds, if they were exposed in detail to all the lives that were ruined or ended by the actions of criminals.

Great article. He was rightfully charged with manslaughter, but it's hard to see the full picture sometimes (what lead up to this point, what are his life circumstances). Empathy is important, even towards criminals who do awful things. If we can better understand the problem, we can do better at preventing similar incidents in the future.

Buzzfeed seems to be looking to better themselves. I hope they continue publishing pieces like this.

This article is really good.

Top 3 Sheldons that will blow your mind!