It’s not just that the original criminals are more likely to reoffend. Suddenly removing people from society has a huge range of negative flow-on effects throughout the wider community, especially if you’re putting them in prison. The longer you do it for, the worse the impact is. It’s those flow-on problems that make others more likely to commit crimes. If your goal is minimise crime, it’s not the best way to go about it.
On the other hand, I would argue for very stern punishments for being a gang leader. There are much fewer of them, so the negative impact of imprisoning them isn’t nearly as severe. And if it successfully eradicates gangs, or at least cripples them, the benefits will far outweigh those problems. Also, the punishment needs to be severe enough to act as a deterrent for the next would-be leader.
It’s not just that the original criminals are more likely to reoffend. Suddenly removing people from society has a huge range of negative flow-on effects throughout the wider community, especially if you’re putting them in prison. The longer you do it for, the worse the impact is. It’s those flow-on problems that make others more likely to commit crimes. If your goal is minimise crime, it’s not the best way to go about it.
On the other hand, I would argue for very stern punishments for being a gang leader. There are much fewer of them, so the negative impact of imprisoning them isn’t nearly as severe. And if it successfully eradicates gangs, or at least cripples them, the benefits will far outweigh those problems. Also, the punishment needs to be severe enough to act as a deterrent for the next would-be leader.