After an incident in my teens in the 90s, I've thought about this at length. The only conclusion I ever seem to draw is one of more criminal activity. Yes, I can hear the inbound downvotes, but I'm just being intellectually honest. How can we expect this kid to reform if we ensure he'll be living without any kind of reward for decades to come? Seems like some jail time would be much more productive. A $250k fine is a 10-20 year sentence of subsistence living. That's probably the worst way to try and give someone the "right" moral compass. The chances we'll reform someone are slim, compared to getting someone jaded by the sentence and incentivized to commit more crime just to get ahead. We won't be rehabilitating this guy with a fine like that.