Aw, I used to love Melanie when I was a teenager!
Love this story of Aṅgulimāla. I think if it was today, he'd be seen as a terrorist, and we'd all be calling for blood. I think we could do worse as a society than listening to such stories of transformation and holding them up as a benchmark for the judicial system. Everyone deserves a chance to redeem themselves, and there are so, so many stories like this that I'm suprised we don't use them as a 'go to' rather than calling for people to be shot in the cold light of dawn.
My feelings exactly! I know with the constant changes who knows what paramis those accused may have had and to cut their life short denies any chance of reaching those aspirations.
Also more killing just perpetuates the cycle with more suffering!