Does "confession and doing penance" cleanse the soul of wrongdoing? Why do people do it? So they can go out again and do bad things?

Because they know all they have to do is confess, do penance and they're good to go?

PENANCE

3. A sacrament as in the Roman Catholic Church, consisting in a confession of sin made with sorrow and with the intention of amendment followed by the forgiveness of the sin.


So that gives folks license to keep doing the sin(s) over and over and over and over again?. Seems like a scam to me. Apologies to those who depend on confession/penance to get through life but wouldn't it be better NOT TO COMMIT THE SIN in the first place? It just doesn't compute.