It's not going to be used that crudely. The child rapist is going to get a hefty sentence regardless of the cost because people want to punish serious crimes m

It's not going to be used that crudely. The child rapist is going to get a hefty sentence regardless of the cost because people want to punish serious crimes more than they want to save a couple of bucks. Where it does come in handy is for relatively minor crimes[1], serving as a spur to consider whether the cost of incarceration is really offset by the benefits to society. [1] Things like drug offenses, etc.