I think there's something to be said for the ability to realize you (as a criminal) have made a mistake, and decide to just leave everything and start over. So

I think there's something to be said for the ability to realize you (as a criminal) have made a mistake, and decide to just leave everything and start over. So long as you're laying low enough to not draw any attention, it seems like in many cases this would be a better thing than the cost of the criminal justice system and incarceration, plus the way incarceration seems to ruin any life that had any value beforehand. This isn't to say that this option should be encouraged, or even allowed to work a lot of the time. But the fact that there's some flexibility there, keeping the system from complete bureaucratic ossification, has some value to society.