Millionaire's daughter Laura Johnson has been jailed for two years for ferrying rioters around during last year's disturbances. The cost of sending her to jail for this length of time is likely to be at least in the region of £50 000, and the chances are that it'll have little effect on her - when she comes out, she'll settle back into her life of privilege, while her passengers will no doubt continue their careers of crime. It would surely make more sense to not send her to prison, but to fine her the cost of a prison sentence which would be deductible from her future wages through the tax system - something not unlike a student loan.
I guess that if you extended and adapted this simple measure across the board, it would clear the jails of a lot of the petty scofflaws, but also hit the criminals where it hurts the most - their wallets.
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