Growing up, there was a judge in a nearby town that offered creative punishments to non-violent offenders. He would hear their crimes, and do a sort of evaluation as to whether they would benefit from his odd punishments and them offer them the choice of the standard punishment (Usually a short stint in jail or a hefty fine) or another punishment he came up with. I particularly like the one where he sentenced a kid that mowed “FU” into the grass on the school football field, to mow the entire field with an old fashioned reel mower.

If more judges could come up with fitting sentences that could be offered in place of jail time or fines, would the people learn more and would our society benefit?