>>The judge did not wish to send him to prison (she said that in court) but the prosecutor insisted that the prosecution would appeal any non-custodial sentence.

Prosecution optimizing for a kill count is another problem in this system. In case of minor victim less offenses some thing like community services, fines and warnings should be the maximum punishment.

When you punish some one for life for a minor offense, then you are basically telling them they are better off trying their hand at a full time criminal career. Now every one suffers.