This actually goes the other way, if you believe the science: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886260513504646 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177

This actually goes the other way, if you believe the science: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886260513504646 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886260513504646 A lot of these people are in touch with prison ministries trying to get them to repent, so they probably weren't frequently meaningfully Christian before that on average. I don't have any way of knowing if these people were sincere or whether they'd have done the things they did all over again, but I don't really find it a bad thing if people realize that they've done bad and want to do what little they can to atone for it. But yeah, I know it's not like an "I'm sorry" is going to bring mom back. And I say that as someone who heard those very words from the man who murdered mom. So take the supposed repentance with a grain of salt, but I think it's at least better than the alternative where they never even acknowledge that they did something awful.