Would Faith have served her full sentence?

[Samuel Reyes]

Do you think Faith would have stayed in jail for 25+ years (or at least until her parole came up)? Going to jail in the first place was her decision entirely so clearly she intended to stay for quite some time, but I doubt Faith would have really spent the best years of her life locked up. Especially considering she's a Slayer whose job it is to help people, even if Faith did not particularly care about such matters at that point. Personally I think she only wanted to stay until she felt she was completely stable or unless she had a good reason to break out. In "Release" we saw that Faith could have broken out whenever she wanted and based on her opening exchange with Wesley wasn't planning to go anywhere for a while, only to smash the glass without a moment's hesitation after Wes told her about Angelus' return (ergo, a GOOD REASON for Faith to want to break out). And crossing over to Buffy's "Empty Places", Faith flat-out tells the cops who come to arrest her that she isn't going back to jail; I know it'd be hard to genuinely want to go back (considering how much extra jail time you'd be hit with as a result), but by then I think Faith decided she'd found her footing in the "real world" helping people and fighting the good fight. Had Faith not broken out of jail do you think she would have served her full sentence???

 

[gite63]

but by then I think Faith decided she'd found her footing in the "real world" helping people and fighting the good fight. Had Faith not broken out of jail do you think she would have served her full sentence???

As I already said before, one thing is to atone for your crimes, other is to pay for them. Faith certainly didn't and doesn't want to be in jail for 20 years for having killed an innocent old man.

 

[thetopher]

Faith was in jail primarily because Buffy told her that's where she belonged.
In ''Sanctuary' Angel wanted for Faith to 'get better' and to atone for her actions (like he had eventually done) but Buffy's arrival put a very personal face on all the suffering that Faith had caused.

I think Faith would've remained in jail for a good long while (possibly her entire sentence unless she got parole) unless one of two things happened: Buffy asked for her help (not gonna happen) or if Angel were in utter, (im)mortal danger (like Angelus having returned).
So Faith busts out in under a minute (although Wesley's getaway car certainly helped) and was away to LA. Then Angel tells Faith in 'Orpheus' that 'their time is never up' and that Faith has to fight. She can't just lay back and die/not fight.

That's why Faith doesn't want to go back- she is a) stable enough and b) actually doing good by being out in the world and still is. She's still the second most important slayer in the world- saving half of humanity from a magical virus and all.

 

[white avenger]

I think that it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for Faith to have finished her sentence, mainly because, the way that things were going up to Season 7, Buffy wouldn't have lived that long. "What's the connection," you might ask. Quite simply, as long as Buffy was fulfilling the job as Slayer, which, technically, was Faith's job, not her own, the Watchers' Council would have been perfectly happy to let her rot in prison indefinitely. Once Buffy either was killed or could no longer have fulfilled the job of Slayer, Faith's days would have been numbered. The Council wanted an active Slayer doing the job that she was Called to do, and they had already shown how they planned to handle the "problem" that Faith represented when they sent the wet team to Sunnydale.

Almost certainly, second only to keeping Dawn in Sunnydale rather than being turned over to Child Welfare after the end of Season 6, keeping Faith alive was the reason that the Scoobies went to such lengths to make conceal Buffy's death. If word had ever gotten out that she was no longer standing in for Faith, and, let's face it, that's exactly what Buffy was doing, from the time that Kendra was Called up until her resurrection in Season 6, when the Slayer Line was split. From that time on, Buffy wasn't THE Slayer. In fact, by definition, she probably should have been called something besides Slayer, since she was no longer the "one girl in all the world." Faith was. Buffy was something else. (But that's a subject for its own separate thread)

Anyhow, once the Watchers' Council realized that they no longer had anyone fulfilling the job of Slayer, I have no doubt that plans would be made, if they hadn't already been made, just waiting for Buffy's death to put them in motion, to see that Faith died in some manner, making it possible for a new Slayer (hopefully, one more easily controlled than either Buffy or Faith had been) to be Called.

In other words, no, Faith would definitely not serve out her full 25 years, and possibly not even survive long enough to make parole.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

I don't think that Faith would have ended up serving the whole time, despite her intentions. There would have been something that either made her want to break out, or if things went the way The First wanted them too, then she would have been dead. She was only in for like 3 years, so I think after year 5 she would have started to realize that she didn't need to be in prison anymore. There's a lot of "if's" involved. Say if the team still managed to reensoul Angel without Faith's help, and Angel still took over W&H, it's possible that Faith might have asked for his help to get out. I think that she went to prison thinking she would serve full term, but I don't think it would have ever happened.

 

[gite63]

I think that she went to prison thinking she would serve full term, but I don't think it would have ever happened.

It's human nature, isn't it? I think the fact that Faith turned herself in meant something.

 

[Samuel Reyes]

I think that she went to prison thinking she would serve full term, but I don't think it would have ever happened.

Agreed, Faith (at the time) wasn't one to plan ahead. She went to jail out of a combination of feeling bad for what she had done and wanting the pain of having done those things to stop, deciding that being behind bars was a way to achieve that kind of closure. During her stay in the big house though I think Faith must've realized that there was no way in hell she was staying there - first really good reason to leave came along, she was gone. When Wes told her Angelus had returned, Faith knew that was her moment. The first step to "real-world" redemption: save the one guy who'd never given up on her. She'd done her time for all her killing, but now it was time to patch things up on the outside and she wasn't looking back.

 

[The Bronze]

No I don't think she would have completed her sentence. She was using prion mainly as a rehabilitation centre. Once she believed she'd overcome her psychosis and spent an appropriate amount of time being punished then I think she'd have left.

No one wants to be locked away and wasting their life but most people in that position don't have a choice. Faith would also be able to make a very strong case in her mind about why it was the right thing to do as well. Prison is supposed to be about punishment and then being rehabilitated back into society. She'd see it as a few years punishment, cured of her problems and being able to do more good for society on the outside.

 

[nightshade]

I think she was comfortable there, it gave her some security, she could have left whenever she wanted, but she was in a way respected there. She also didn't have to think about the outside world, yes she could watch the news and leave if needed to, but Buffy and Angel weren't on the news so I guess she always thought they could handle it.

 

[Fuffy]

I think that she probably would have served until she felt redeemed enough to become a fugitive that fights for the good side 😀

 

[Ethan Reigns]

I am not sure what she copped to or what her sentence was. Did she admit to the killing of the deputy mayor or did she add the courier and the professor as well? The first would be manslaughter, the other two would be murder. A guilty plea would normally get a reduced sentence.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

I am not sure what she copped to or what her sentence was. Did she admit to the killing of the deputy mayor or did she add the courier and the professor as well? The first would be manslaughter, the other two would be murder. A guilty plea would normally get a reduced sentence.

That's a good question. The only thing the police had any information on was he deputy mayor. No one else knew about he courier, and not sure if Buffy told Angel or the cops about the professor, so I'm not sure if she admitted that one. Doesn't she say she got "25 to life"? If so then she probably did confess to killing the professor, otherwise the accidental murder or the deputy mayor would have been a lesser sentence. But how did she explain killing him though? I doubt she said "I was killing vampires and he just popped out of he alley, so I staked him".

 

[Samuel Reyes]

The only thing the police had any information on was he deputy mayor. No one else knew about he courier, and not sure if Buffy told Angel or the cops about the professor, so I'm not sure if she admitted that one. Doesn't she say she got "25 to life"? If so then she probably did confess to killing the professor, otherwise the accidental murder or the deputy mayor would have been a lesser sentence. But how did she explain killing him though? I doubt she said "I was killing vampires and he just popped out of he alley, so I staked him".

IIRC in the comics Faith mentions feeling she served adequate time for killing the deputy mayor but still has a guilty conscience about the professor. So I'm guessing she did bring both of them up to the police; surely, the professor's death was on their radar as an unsolved crime. Not sure about the courier, who was shady anyway and didn't really contribute to society, so I doubt Faith sympathized with him.