There are three potential reasons for incarceration:
1. Punishment
2. Deterrence
3. Isolation
To this liberals add another one:
4. Rehabilitation
I separate punishment from deterrence because there is a sense among people that some things should have responsibility with them, namely if you cause pain you feel pain, and not necessarily as a deterrent so much as righting order.
To my mind, only #3 is viable. Revenge is futile, deterrence is proportionate to likelihood of getting caught, and they never rehabilitate except in a few isolated and quirky cases (the college student literally selling drugs to fund school because he has no time for a second job).
Under liberal influence from the 1960s through early 1980s, a lot of judges were lenient on crime, which gave criminals an extended vacation in prison to learn from other criminals. They often became more ruthless when they got out, including executing victims in order to avoid having testimony against them.
QuoteA neighbor of Singleton's recognized the police sketch crafted from Mary's account and wasted no time contacting law enforcement. Nine days after the attack, Singleton was arrested and charged with attempted murder, rape, and a slew of other sexual offenses against Mary.
Despite being found guilty, he received a shockingly short sentence of only 14 years, and as he left the courtroom, he had some chilling words for Mary: "If it's the last thing I do, I'll finish the job," he whispered menacingly as he was dragged away.
Singleton was released just eight years later for 'good behavior.' Tragically, Singleton would go on to murder Roxanne Hayes, a mother of three, in 1997. When police arrived at the scene after a neighbor's call, they found him blood-stained.
https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/chilling-case-woman-who-left-947876