Wiping butts was one of the experiences that inadvertently shaped my life. That and mopping half-chewed beet-shrimp-onion vomit off the floor. It humbled me, took me down to the animal-human level of being just one more. And I wish that on everyone.
While I did it more or less voluntarily (I was able to choose between military and civil service), I afterwards always defended the position of having everyone do a civil year. Shove them into homes for the elderly or, like in my case, facilities that care for those labelled "mentally or physically disabled", meaning that they couldn't perform tasks in a profitable way.
Which doesn't mean society abandons them. The place I worked at was marvelous, full of dedicated and notoriously underpaid humans who made the commitment to care for those that the economics don't. You know, like education.
I'd throw most small-time-criminals into a civil service. You went up against community standards, you give back to community. I don't see the sense in sending them to prison. Let them wipe buts for a year or two. Get in touch with real humans. Become humble while being confronted with what humanity could be.
The homes for the elderly and those for the disabled are beacons of community. Not everyone makes it to money, for whatever reason. Or to have family. To be cared for, when time comes that one can't take care oneself - that is, right after education of the young (and I say purposely after), is a gold standard we can measure the state of our society with. Needless to say - we're not high up there at the moment.
Being confronted with the love and lust for life of the "useless" is humbling. Being exposed to that changes people, most people I suspect. Not everyone, sure. But I doubt that anyone can be working in pure helping for a period of time and not be impacted by it in a positive way. Imagine a scammer trying to rip of an elderly person having constant flashbacks of changing diapers, washing and wiping.
And that's beside the positive impact on the workload for the other social workers there. Two year minimum sentence while getting paid barely enough to survive - so just as everyone else working there - could make for an interesting impact on that line of work. And on the chastised.
In conclusion, a lot more social work should be used as re-educative punishment. Instead of restraining freedom, teach responsibility. And that's best taught by being made responsible, for example for another human being. Wiping their buts. And their vomit, no matter how weird.
What are your thoughts about this topic? Please feel free to engage in any original way, including dropping links to your posts on similar topics. I'm happy to read (and curate) any quality content that is not created by LLM/AI.
Post written for the #weekend-engagement by 
This is my response to:
What penalties should internet scammers receive and why?
I was aiming to do the drawing, but time caught up with me after coming home from a short vacation. It's too late as it is. Long day tomorrow, as it is after every vacation.
Thank you for reading!
