The crime only goes down while the criminals are in prison.
When you work out that it costs $300 a day (or whatever) to keep people in prison, life in prison for thousands of people starts to sound expensive.
For the greatest social benefit, society should just hang them.
Even if they won't hang them, flogging them publicly for every offense after 10 would be an effective deterrent for most crimes. A quick, medically supervised, same day flogging and then kick them back onto the street.
The crime only goes down while the criminals are in prison.
When you work out that it costs $300 a day (or whatever) to keep people in prison, life in prison for thousands of people starts to sound expensive.
For the greatest social benefit, society should just hang them.
Even if they won't hang them, flogging them publicly for every offense after 10 would be an effective deterrent for most crimes. A quick, medically supervised, same day flogging and then kick them back onto the street.