[Traum]

I am not trying to support the revolving door justice system that we have, but I can sort of see some of the reasons it continues to happen.

We operate on a common law system, and the way courts work in a common law system is, the sentencing is based on a combination of the criminal code and precedence from similar previous cases. If a judge's ruling deviates too much from it without strong reasons, the convicted person will likely appeal the ruling.

With so much slap on the hand type of penalty, the judges pretty much have to go along with precedence.

IMO, we also need bail reform because everybody agrees that if someone is on their 30th convicted assault charge, the guy is just gonna go out and do it again pretty soon.

Our jails and detention centers are full. We don't have enough staff to run the facilities as it is, and our govs are reluctant to allocate more funding to build the correctional facilities and hire more staff at an attractive enough wage. I'd also tend to believe (without concrete evidence) that the judges must also know this correctional facility shortage, so they try not to send too many people to jail and overwhelm a system that is already bursting at its seams.

Our society has too many bleeding heart advocates that want to save everyone and give everyone a near infinite number of chances to redeem themselves. As a very cynical realist, I absolutely do not believe that. I want to be a generous person too, but at some point -- you gotta start hitting them progressively harder.