[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Bump for the return of the pillory or whipping post part. That could be more effective than small jail terms for some people with misdemeanors and lighten the load on overcrowded prisons.

Plus, sometimes a spanking works more effectively than being sent to a room or a corner.

[Ronin]

There’s other factors to consider as well. The most obvious additional consequence to jail or imprisonment is that the bad guy (providing he has one) loses his job.

If, instead of throwing a petty thief or a drunk driver in jail, he were to get 10 lashes, he could be back to work the next day. A bit sore perhaps, but not totally incapacitated.

Furthermore, keeping him out of jail mean keeping him away from the career criminal class of bad guys, which might (hopefully) keep them from teaching him the kind of bad tricks that would turn HIM into a career criminal.

It’ll never happen, of course. The liberals would have total hysterics — except in San Francisco where the leather boys would be lining up to take their turns.