Can people who have committed horrific crimes be rehabilitated? Many religious traditions say the answer is yes. And America itself has always been the land of second chances. But there is a difference between believing that people can change and betting your life on it — or someone else’s.

I was in California few weeks ago when Emmanuel Haro’s disappearance was first reported on the local news. The mother of the 7-month-old told a story about how she was in the parking lot of a local sporting goods store, changing her son’s diaper, when someone knocked her over the head and kidnapped her child.

For better or worse, I have read enough stories about violence against children in recent years that the story sounded odd to me immediately. Kidnapping by strangers is exceedingly rare, for one

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