"Better off" shouldn't be a factor...

If the problem is serious, then shouldn't the degree of deterrence be commensurate with penalties for serious offenses like drunk driving, robbery, murder, and the like?

Selective law enforcement, whether based on clintonesque privilege or immigrant poverty seems to be going out of style. Bottom line should be if you can't do the time, or pay the fine, then don't do the crime. 

If the sheriff done you wrong, you take it to court. Or, if the law is written intelligently, it has something that might even let you off the hook the first time if you didn't do too much damage.

Trusting our Peoples Assembly to write a law intelligently, a law that prioritizes public safety over Getting Money, that too is a different issue.