But... if you treat them like a criminal, they've got nothing to lose, and they never get better.
I'd argue that there's a whole range of treating them. If you treat them like how we treat criminals, they're generally not going to get better. Treat them about like a college dormie or deployed military member but with more security, address the issues causing the criminality, and recedivism drops substantially, even if your sentences are roughly 1/3rd of ours.
I like lower sentences that have lower recedivism. It's
cheaper, translating into smaller government.