A simple, effective punishment can be used for violation of public safety policies: Turn off the electricity of violating individuals and organizations.
Remove circuit breakers or electric meter for up to four weeks.
Among the benefits is lowering the cost of enforcing laws. No jailing. No prosecution. No locked up breadwinners, just inconvenienced family, relatives and friends.
Modus Operandi:
Violators will be escorted to a magistrate to review evidence. Intermediate handling can use school buses if large arrests.
A policeman will remove the electric meter (or circuit breaker panel).
The bagged and labled items are taken to a police facility.
The offender can pick up the electrical items after the penalty time, paying a 50% commercial cost of the items..
Disconnect signs will be posted in public view like abandoned car windshield stickers or "No Trespassing" signs.
Disconnections will be quality controlled to see if electricity has been re-introduced to the offender. Neighbors who provide extension cords will have their electrical service removed from source (pole) to circuit panel with no redemption of removed parts. Offenders will have to pay energy company and electricians for new service.
News outlets chronicle crime and school closing. Likewise, the media should list Electricity Denials. Fewer petty crimes will be one result. For many people, the inconvenience of 30 days without electricity is a greater threat than 30 days of tax-payer free room-and-board in prisons.
An ominous letter was sent by the National School Boards Association to the U.S. Attorney General requesting deployment of the national guard and military at school board meetings to arrest and prosecute disruptive attendees under the Patriot Act as terrorists. Excuse me. This is a slippery slope that should be avoided. Heinrich Himmler is applauding in his grave. Civility Brainbees and De-Electrification will reduce the threat to public servants.
For citizens wishing to speak at public meetings, they submit their issue in advance to the Civility Brainbee for peer review and prioritization by other submitters. At public meetings (council, board, police, school, univesities, etc.) speakers are given a time-limit to present their issue and to seek feedback. Anyone violating the democratizing of civility in public meetings will have their electricity--a symbol of civilization--turned off.
Some might say that this is unfair to children, siblings or parents of petty crimesters. A few cliches impart a rationale.
In all cases, compared to incarceration, the probability is lessened of repeat offenders or crime escalation. Which will prompt an offender to think twice in the future? Family pity or family reproachment?
De-electrification optimally fulfills Cesare Beccaria's Deterrence Theory (from Google AI):
Potential criminals will consider the risks and rewards of committing
a crime and choose not to commit a crime if the punishment outweighs the
benefits.
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Number 3 is critical in deterring petty criminals from becoming felonious.
Every locality, state and nation should enact de-electrification legislation for minor crime as a way to reduce major crime.