[nikkev]

You're grossly missing the point. If your kid steals money from your wallet, you catch them and punish them. That does not make what they did right just because they were punished and you deemed their behavior unacceptable. What if you didn't find out? Or what if you decided to look the other way because it was only five dollars?

[heavenlyblue]

Sadly, but a morally speaking you're then getting into the same territory as it is with the sex offenders; who having offended once are stained for the rest of their lives.

There is a reason why there's a statute of limitations, but neither does it mean that the current punishment is enough.

Let's talk children, as you say - you would punish a child, yet you would not mark him as a morally corrupted person forever; the punishment just needs to be severe enough.