Chris Brown, singer, rapper, and former girlfriend-beater-extroardinaire was back at the Grammy’s last Sunday, February 12th, 2012, and from what I hear he put on quite an exhilarating performance. (I don’t know because I don’t have a television.) It was only three years ago that Brown assaulted his girlfriend, singer Rihanna, and left her bruised and battered on the side of the road on the eve of the 2009 Grammy’s. In the aftermath of the beating, Brown plead guilty to a charge of assault and was sentenced to five years of probation and six months of community labor. Was last Sunday too soon for the Grammy’s to allow Chris to return to the stage?

Chris wasn’t helped in his quest to put the past behind him when at least dozens of his female fans took to their twitter account to let the world know that Chris was so “fine” he could beat them anytime he wanted to. These tweets came from black girls, white girls, and, from what I could tell, even a gay man or two. Since when it is OK for a person to get away with a crime just because they happen to be good-looking? And I’ll let you decide whether or not you consider Chris Brown to be good-looking or not.

While performing his community service, Chris was immature enough to actually tweet about how stylish he looked in the orange jump-suit he was forced to wear while picking up trash. What made Brown look even more unrepentant and tone-deaf to the need to learn from his crimes was when he threw a chair into a window on Good Morning America when he didn’t like the line of questions he was receiving from the host. The chair throwing incident was in 2011 and since then Brown has vowed to give no interviews in 2012.

One can only hope that Chris really has understood his mistakes and will eventually–if he hasn’t already done so–learn how to control his anger. Rihanna, for her part, seems to have forgiven Chris for what he did to her and has recently been seen partying at the same clubs as he and his entourage.

The only crimes for which I don’t care how long you punish a person are child molestation and premeditated murder. Anything other than those two crimes and I am willing to believe that you can indeed work your way back into societies’ good graces. After all, Chris Brown was only a teenager when he abused Rihanna and he had the best years left of his life ahead of him to atone for his mistakes.

So when, if ever, does Chris Brown become deserving of public forgiveness? Should Chris Brown ever be allowed to perform at the Grammy’s or any other major music ceremony?

If Rihanna has moved on and is apparently no longer mad at Chris, do the rest of us have any reason to continue to insist that he be punished for his transgressions?