Do you really want to know what a "Better Way" is?
Realistically, we need to start considering what the likelihood that someone will re-offend is, how possible it is to rehabilitate them, and what the consequence of their re-offence will be and create an appropriate sentence for them; and we need to stop the dogmatic "One Size Fits All" approach of being easy or hard on criminals. There are criminals (like sexual predators) that will almost certainly re-offend, there is little chance of rehabilitation, and they commit some of the most heinous crimes; at the same time, there are criminals who the act of being caught has effectively eliminated their ability to re-offend, rehabilitation is highly likely, and even if they do re-offend the consequences are minimal so there is limited/no need for any significant sentence.
