I would go further than this article's assumption about diminishing returns. It seems clear that when it stops being rare, locking people up for minor crime is

I would go further than this article's assumption about diminishing returns. It seems clear that when it stops being rare, locking people up for minor crime isn't merely pointless but is in fact woefully counterproductive. Incarceration at the level seen in the USA, I believe has the net effect of actually creating extra crime through many well documented causes, including the destabilization of families and their extended communities, the crime-college effect for minor offenders at the same time as a reduction in their legal employment opportunities on release, not to mention the fact it lends significant credence to any robin-hood style narratives any professional gang cares to adopt, so helping them recruit.