I can agree that it may not be an optimal disincentive, but that doesn't suggest that it isn't a disincentive.
Then we agree.
I never said that it did not deter at all, simply that it is not the deterrent people take it to be. I also made this point to underline that pursuing ever greater incarceration times is not necessarily the solution to criminals using guns. Which in turn stemmed from my point that singling out crime involving guns is a narrow-minded approach by the establishment: reducing crime reduces gun-crime and my view is that, although not a quick fix, improving the education and opportunities of this generation and the next in schools will, over time lead to lower crime. Whilst not the instant fix people would like, I think it is a fundamentally surer one.
It's like asking if you are satisfied with the state of cancer treatment.
Actually, if you were to find heavy investment being made in chemo-, radio- and biological treatments but find far less spending on lifestyle/risk factor education that reduce the risk of incidence to begin with or screening programs designed to allow for early detection which, lead to far greater survival rates, then I'd argue the analogy was quite similar.
Actually, it doesn't, unless you accept that criminal penalties don't have the desired effect. If the desired effect is to deter crime, then those penalties are doing their work.
Well, based on the figures surrounding prison population, reoffending rates and crime rates that I found, I don't think they have the desired affect. In either absolute terms, nor in cost-benefit terms, but that is my opinion. You may think it is fine. And, after all, they're your tax dollars, not mine...
US spending on education is up at the high end of the spectrum, along with Switzerland. Any sense that the US doesn't spend lavishly on education is factually mistaken.
I never said it was spending little. Just that it was spending less than it is on prisons especially, as in a person's life, school comes first (and at a character forming stage in life) while any criminal career comes after. The former is chronologically very well placed to affect the latter.
While you may see a correlation amongst crime rates and education that should not suggest that modest education causes crime
No, it doesn't, but it does cause lower job prospects, lower aspirational goals and narrowed horizons, by and large. These then can lead to crime being an easy/obvious/default choice in some people's lives.