[NoZebra120vClip]

> keeping the criminals off the streets does work [citation needed]

One of the primary features of incarceration is that the crime has already been committed. A person is described as a criminal because they've already committed a crime, not because they are likely to do so again in the future.

Yes, jailing folks for doing crimes is likely to keep them from committing crimes out on the streets, and also to intimidate would-be criminals from committing crimes lest they are imprisoned for them. But if you keep imprisoning every kind of criminal, you're just creating job openings for more criminals out there, and plenty of folks willing to fill those voids. You've also got all the problems with prisons bursting at the seams. I don't believe that mass incarceration is really beneficial, overall, for the morale of a populace. You wind up with ugly stuff like organized crime and drug cartels operating with impunity from behind bars, too: great recruiting grounds.