"if someone steals my TV, gets caught, and the punishment is for him to buy me a new TV and fix my door that he broke and another 100 hours of lawn care on top

"if someone steals my TV, gets caught, and the punishment is for him to buy me a new TV and fix my door that he broke and another 100 hours of lawn care on top of that, that's a lot cheaper and better for society than sticking him a prison for several years." If the the criminal is stealing your TV, do you actually think they will have the money to pay it back? There are plenty of cases where a judge forces a person to pay money back and the person just doesn't pay it back or doesn't have the money. Even the guy from "The Wolf of Wallstreet" hasn't paid the millions he owes. I just don't think this will deter petty crime. "The main idea isn't going soft on crime, it's letting the victims decide on the punishment" What if, as a victim, I decided that the person that stole my TV needed to have his hands chopped off? Your method seems to be more based on emotion and retribution than our current system. It may be more expensive, but I don't see a problem with our current system in terms of deterring crime. I don't mind paying more for something that will help society.