now that, my friend, is a valid comparison. since they are not materially benefitting the strip club by simply being there. in fact, they are harming the club by taking up a seat that a paying customer might otherwise occupy.
and, like the church sentence, it's a bad idea because it basically lets the criminal off scott free.
I agree it basically lets [some] criminals off scott free, especially those who attend strip clubs regularly already. Continuing this hypothetical though, lets say you have the following choices.
1) Jail + charges stick
2) pay fine + charges stick
3) Attend strip club and charges are dismissed.
No church option here because we are using this to draw a parallel to the current situation. lets also assume a large portion of the community feel strongly that regular strip club attendance is potentially a deterrent to crime.
Now there are a handful of people in this community who do not attend strip clubs, and in fact are adverse to the idea of stepping foot into one - to them this is a punishment.
Sure they have a "choice". Go to jail or pay the fine and have the charges stick on their record, or go to the strip club and have them vanish. like it never even happened. This is the same for those who attend the strip club every friday already, and are not offended or put out in any way from this option.
So we have group a) commits a misdemeanor their path and their "choice" to having charges dismissed equates to life as usual, zero disruption, zero change in their life and their routine, zero ramifications and zero punishment.
group b) commits the same misdemeanor, they get the same "choice" to have theoir charges dismissed, however their choice is a disruption of life as usual, a change in their routine, and for some potentially a change that is flat out offensive. For this group there are ramifications and this is a punishment.
Does this seem like a fair set of choices, or a fair standard? There is a supposed "choice", yet only
one path for the charges to get dismissed. Some essentiually go unpunished and do not have to deviate from their normal routine at all, others would be very put out, for them it would be punishment.