I think that most people do not.
Teenagers get calmer when they get older, so I can accept ignoring minor misdeeds that can be attributed to not thinking, but not anything more serious.
You seem to think that people do change, and maybe some do, but I think that's a rarity. Anyway that's the crux of your message: Do people change or not?
He knew the guy was going to trial and his comfortable life was more valuable to him than honesty or this other man's existence.
In the article's situation it was causing ongoing harm to another person so this is still pretty bad though
But note that, according to the article, lying to the police was viewed as a minor crime. The major one was giving his bank a false name. The bank isn't even, notionally, an arm of the state.
In any case, I guess-- it's complicated. We have this guy who was seemingly a different person for nearly 35 years, but then reverted to do something terrible (and similar to things he had done in the past) when it all threatened to come crashing down. And the other guy who was someone different for 19 years.
If he had stolen an identity from someone dead we'd probably all just kinda shrug.
Remove all entitlements, money and credentials from a middle-class person and throw them on the street and see how quickly that goes down.
You contradicted yourself here.
(I’m not agreeing, just pointing out that there is no contradiction.)
I'm all for forgiving people, but the guy was actively committing the crime against the other chap!