>It's certainly an interesting idea. I think it's missing a key component. What's driving this person to commit repeated crimes. While there certainly are some amoral people out there, I don't think most crimes are the result of a simple desire to be bad.
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>Seems to me that along with punishment, you need social services to work on solving the underlying problems. Why is this woman selling her body? Is it to feed a drug habit? Then, treat the drug habit. Is it to feed a family? Then help them get food legitimately. Etc., etc., etc.
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>I think that over time, we could reduce crime dramatically by making good drug and alcohol treatment programs readily available and affordable, by ensuring that people get enough to eat and have somewhere warm to sleep, and by providing young parents with lots of support in how to raise kids. None of these would solve problems overnight, but the problems didn't develop overnight.
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>And, of course, I'm not naive enough to believe that all crime is the result of these social ills, but I think a lot of it is.
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>Tamar

I agree there must be more, but we've pumped millions, if not billions, into social programs that were supposed to cut crime. Instead, they have facilitated it. That may be due to the fact that the programs aren't tied to performance. The money just gets pumped out. I think tying resources to assistance might also be a viable option. If you want to be a criminal, you do so at your own peril. Reward those who refrain from criminal activity, and remove those who commit crimes from the roles of those eligible for assistance.