But it doesn't.
Criminals are, by and large, stupid, short-sighted, and very often fatalistic.
Stiffer penalties will rarely deterr them. I would point to Singapore as an obvious counter-example, but I would like to see the statistics on crime in Texas and the types of crime. And it should be obvious to you that the more time a criminal spends in a cell, the less time he will have available to him to cause trouble to society. That may be the deciding factor in recidivism.