I'd like to clarify what I meant when I said deterrence should not be a consideration.
Of course, the desire to deter crime is a desire that we all share, and I share it too, but we have a very big body of evidence and research that shows a jail sentence is not what does it. It's such a solid body of research that it's really hard not to pay attention to it.
Deterrence is still a legal fiction. It's still in the Criminal Code, but it's a legal fiction. For people in the community who have to live with the consequences, we want solutions that will truly reduce crime.
Even when you say that when an offender is in jail, at least it prevents something from happening during that time, in fact, the statistics don't show that. The crime rate continues outside in the community because of all the other factors and conditions. Increasing incarceration does not reduce the crime rate out there in the community.
This is not theory I'm giving you; it is factual research evidence.