It's considering an immediately adjacent effect, sure. But we can take one more step back and look at a still wider context: what led to the tagger to be in the habit of tagging to begin with? What will happen to the tagger and their community in the long run if all taggers are punished with the full force of the law? Is there some other course of action that would lead to a better outcome for both the individual tagger and the community as a whole?
Sort of. How about an after school "chess club" where the kids who attend get free dinner, and there are a variety of educational activities to choose from in addition to chess? How about a free camp where you bus all the kids out to the nearest wilderness every weekend to learn archery and play sports, and the kids who attend don't have to worry about not having food and shelter for two days out of the week?
> What if the tagger chooses not to go?
Not all of them have to go. You don't have to solve the entire problem at the same time. And if it doesn't work, you keep trying things until something sticks.
The key point is that you need to be willing to spend the resources keeping kids out of jail that you would spend keeping them in jail.
> "How about an after school "chess club" where the kids who attend get free dinner"
These sorts of clubs exist in some places, such as in my school [0]. They include everything from tutoring to other academic activities to free meals to summer programs.
