> You prevent crimes by removing people that commit them from society. By that logic the U.S. should be among the least crime-ridden societies in the world, ha

> You prevent crimes by removing people that commit them from society. By that logic the U.S. should be among the least crime-ridden societies in the world, having an incarceration rate of 531 people per 100,000 compared to 67 per 100,000 in i.e. Germany: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarcera... But in reality, Germany experiences significantly less crime than the U.S.: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/crime-rate-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/crime-rat... In fact, only about a third of convicted criminals in Germany will be convicted again to a prison term after serving their sentence/paying their fines: https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/kriminalitaetsstudie-von-drei-straftaetern-wird-einer-rueckfaellig-a-953533.html https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/kriminalitaetsstudie-... This is similar in the U.S.: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/recidivism-rates-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/recidivis... A "removal from society" of people that engage in crime previously thus does not seem to be a prerequisite for preventing crime. Especially murderers seem to experience quite low recidivism rates, likely owing to the fact that murders tend to be highly personal affairs and/or highly dependent on the the availability of a significant motive and opportunity. The lesson here seems to be that you prevent crime by limiting the situations that would give people the opportunity or require them to commit it. I.e. you provide a social safety net, limit access to firearms, require transparency in financial transactions, etc. And if someone commits a crime, you invest specifically in that person's ability and commitment to not engage in further crime in the future or put differently, you rehabilitate them. That will of course vary from person to person and for some a release back into society might not be an option. But putting people into prison without investing in rehabilitation will just create the conditions to put more (or the same) people into prison (again).