No, I think your general statement covers it.
I'm getting off the point a little, but in some states in the United States, the jury determines the sentence. For instance, when it comes to capital punishment, the question will go to the jury as to whether or not it should be life imprisonment or execution, and it's the jury that makes the decision. That complicates the system and it backlogs very quickly, because juries have to be instructed and selected and so forth, and they may act more emotionally than a judge. But that's an alternative that the Americans in some states have adopted.
It's an important question, and I'm not attempting to tell you that what I'm saying is the only solution or the right one. It's simply the expression of my own view from having observed the situation over years.