""Imprisonment acts as a deterrent""
It doesn't other than while the criminals are imprisoned - how can it?
Great argument for cramming more into already overcrowded prisons and building more
The same applies to yuor second point - you are only safe while the perpetrators are behind bars
The degrading system of boh the prison regime and the rehabilitation schemes guarantee that not only will they emerge bitter and resentful but the company they have kept during the duration of their sentences will guartantee that they will have become more proficient at the crimes they were locked up for - an everlasting circle.
It doesn't take a great deal of research to work that out - it's simple common sense.
Of course, many of those that go in are victims of a society that is unable to produce a decent standard of living honestly - check the statistical links between crime and poverty
Jim Carroll