And the point would be ... what?

From today's New York Times:

To More Inmates, Life Term Means Dying Behind Bars

As is its wont, the Times begins its report with a sob story (a plea to emotion) and a 50-year-old man who shot his lover three times, and then drowned her in a creek to make sure the deed was done, when he was 15. Despite an exemplary prison life, learning a trade and keeping his nose clean, says the Times, he hasn't been able to wangle a parole board vote in his favor. Poor, pitiful inmate, says the so-called newspaper of record.

Ah, it is indeed a sad thing when a society starts acting responsibly, saying what it means and meaning what it says. But lest you think we are twisting the reasoning of the old grey lady, read on:

Just a few decades ago, a life sentence was often a misnomer, a way to suggest harsh punishment but deliver only 10 to 20 years.

But now, driven by tougher laws and political pressure on governors and parole boards, thousands of lifers are going into prisons each year, and in many states only a few are ever coming out, even in cases where judges and prosecutors did not intend to put them away forever.

Indeed, in just the last 30 years, the United States has created something never before seen in its history and unheard of around the globe: a booming population of prisoners whose only way out of prison is likely to be inside a coffin.

In other words, in years past the terms of a sentence didn't mean much. But times have changed, even if the Times hasn't, and now more judges and more states are adhering to the letter of the law. The article points out, correctly, that to some extent the increase of "life sentences without parole" is the end result of fewer capital crimes and, in some places, the elimination of the death penalty. An "uneasy societal consensus," the Times article says, disdain dripping from every paragraph.

Obviously the end of the death penalty was supposed to result in a brave new world of somewhat rehabbed killers roaming free on the hills, valleys and streets of America. What else can you make of the slant of this thing?

Truth in sentencing: an evil to be inveiled against by your liberal leading newspapers.