Significant encounters, part 2

Then there was the woman I encountered in the alley as I was coming back for a run. We were chatting and in the course of the conversation, she asked if I had heard about the girl who was recently murdered in Surrey. I had, but she filled in the details and then said that she hoped they caught the perpetrator and sentenced him to death. She continued to say that she thought all people who committed serious crimes like that should just be taken care of--because there's no changing them and they shouldn't be allowed to be set loose in society. I must have looked slightly shocked, because she followed that up with, as a religious person, what did I think of that?
Cautiously, I said that I would like to believe that it's possible for anyone to change and that even if it doesn't happen very often, that's not something we should take away from people. And while I agree that those who are dangerous to their society should be removed from it, I'm not sure that means they need to be killed.
She looked at me pityingly. "You're young. You're idealistic. I used to be that way."

And I didn't know what to say. Of course, afterward I remembered the many "smart" things I could have said: that jails are not crowded because of murderers and rapists, but because of injustice, misfortune and a whole set of complex causes; that no justice system is perfect and would she want her grandchildren wrongly convicted and then lethally injected?; that I know a whole lot of "old people" who still held their youthful idealism.
But in the moment, I had no words, for two reasons. First, as someone who has been fortunate to experience very little prejudice (I feel like I've managed to miss a lot of the discrimination and harassment that can come with being a woman), it was jolting to be judged by, of all things, my age. I was no longer a person; I was a demographic. I felt utterly objectified.
Secondly, I was profoundly saddened because this is what the world looks like to someone who has no God. As a Christian, I can affirm that while people are born in sin, we are also made in the image of God--even murderers. I can affirm that I too am someone who deserves to be judged--and thank God I've never been in a place to be judged by the law. And most importantly, I can affirm that even as the world is a crazy, broken, confused place, there is still hope. I don't think I have idealism--I have hope.