If that's true for some criminals, then isn't it true for all of them? If not, how would you distinguish the ones who used free will from the automatons? It sounds ripe for unfairness. "Oh, my poor client was abused as a child, so it's not his fault raped and tortured that toddler. Let him off lightly please, your honor." while some other defendant can't think of a sob story because his problem is an innate undiagnosed brain defect so he gets a harsher sentence.
Or are you advocating for lesser sentences for all crime in general? That's something I think should be decided by measuring its effectiveness not people feeling sorry for/angry at criminals, which is more a function of what the TV shows them than reality. I'd like to see ongoing measurement of the effects of sentence durations so they naturally adjust to suit changes in society. Maybe that could be done by applying a random delta to each sentence duration then measuring recidivism rates and continually adjusting the mean sentences duration to minimize recidivism. Just at a guess.
Or are you advocating for lesser sentences for all crime in general? That's something I think should be decided by measuring its effectiveness not people feeling sorry for/angry at criminals, which is more a function of what the TV shows them than reality. I'd like to see ongoing measurement of the effects of sentence durations so they naturally adjust to suit changes in society. Maybe that could be done by applying a random delta to each sentence duration then measuring recidivism rates and continually adjusting the mean sentences duration to minimize recidivism. Just at a guess.