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@saasher2012 wrote:
I guess when they say they're of sound mind that means they knew exactly what they were doing, because if you take that at face value it's a farcical statement to make!
As to the Bulger case the sentence they received & the care & attention they had after being released didn't stop one of them from ending up in trouble again , maybe not murder but hardly the sort of person you'd want living near you even with an assumed name! These do gooders have a lot to answer for!.

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But what is the alternative in a civilised society? 

I'd agree about difficulty with the term "evil".  There are evil acts, but that's as far as it goes, I think.  A person is not all "evil" just as they are not all "good".  Everyone is a mix and the balance of that mix is not necessarily within conscious control (brain development in the womb, brain chemisty at the time of the act, environment, genes inherited, and so forth, all play their part along with "free will"). 

So, society needs protecting, of course, but that has to be balanced against likely threat and the difficulties keeping someone locked up indefinitely, especially from early teens onwards.