Sentencing inevitably has two aspects; a penalty for the crime, and a period for rehabilitation. Different countries place different emphasis on each - the Scandanavian models discussed by other posters previously tend to focus on shorter sentencing, even for serious crimes, with considerable emphasis on rehabilitation. This, they suggested, resulted in lower overall crime rates (specifically re-offending).
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On a final note, we also have to remember that crime is very often a symptom of underlying problems. This is not to excuse individuals from their actions, but we have to recognise that - across the industrialised west - we are left with major social inclusion issues, challenges around the breakdwon of the family unit, the "call of the street", and major challenges around poor education. If we are to be successful in reducing crime then we need to look not just at our sentencing and rehabilitation regimes, but also how we stop them occurring. Otherwise we're shutting the gate after the horse has bolted - and perhaps giving it a good whipping to teach it a lesson.
