User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 368: The Third Seal, Review./@comment-24467372-20140126164811/@comment-7418318-20140127183152

Erza and Gray were ready to sacrifice their lives in order to take a villain down and/or save many more lives.

And Loke was upholding the law of the Spiritworld. And by the letter of the law he was guilty of the crime, even though this special case didn't represent the spirit in which the law had been made, which is why ultimately the Spirit King agreed to make an exception.

And Jellal? Did he uphold any important law? Was he truly guilty of the crimes he commited? Would anything have become better by his death, like a villain being caught or even a single life being saved?

No, no and no.

And that is the difference between the Fairy Tail members and him. FT members might be willing to lay down their lives, if the matter at hand is worth it, but they don't throw their own - or rather any - lives away when there's nothing to gain. If they want to repent, they do so through actions.