PEOPLE IN PRISON AFFILIATED TO GANGS

Active in gang

behaviour while on remand will influence more judges to give a community-based sentence for the remainder of their punishment.

There is plenty of evidence that criminals are deterred by prison despite what many including the Gluckman report claim. The strongest evidence in the economics of crime and punishment is more police deter crime. The working rule is 10 per cent more police reduces crime by about 3 per cent.

As for longer sentences deterring crime, the clearest data comes from sudden increases in sentences unrelated to recent trends in traditional crime. For example, crime rates fell for the next six months after harsh sentences were handed down in the aftermath of the London riots of 2011. Criminals decided not to chance their arm before the courts when longer stretches seemed afoot.

Good evidence that longer sentences deter comes oddly not just from fewer