I think it should be studied. Singapore famously uses them, and has vanishingly-tiny street-crime/property-crime rates. See, for example: https://www.cnbc.com/

I think it should be studied. Singapore famously uses them, and has vanishingly-tiny street-crime/property-crime rates. See, for example: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/16/singapores-crime-rate-is-so-low-that-many-shops-dont-even-lock-up.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/16/singapores-crime-rate-is-so-... My hunch is that it could work because it provides a cheap, rapid symbolic "closing of the psychological loop" – offense, capture, punishment. Even though the tangible costs (in money and time) may be less, the necessary messages are sent to change the calculations of the sort of people who choose such crimes. Indeed, there may even be less collateral damage to their other lawful relationships (job, school, family), compared to jail time spent with (and learning from) other worse criminals. In the US, jail time is a theoretical punishment, but very inconsistently applied because the courts and jails are crowded. Such uncertainty lessens the deterrent effect, and leaves the victims of petty crimes feeling helpless.