If you ignore the essentialist phrasing, he’s largely correct—there is a “snowball effect” where the first crime and its punishment cause further physical, ment

If you ignore the essentialist phrasing, he’s largely correct—there is a “snowball effect” where the first crime and its punishment cause further physical, mental, and social damage to the criminal that can then lead to subsequent crimes. https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2751&context=ulj https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=27... has some analysis of the phenomenon; The Shawshank Redemption is a popular fictional account of the same idea.