How hard can it really be to prevent graffiti?  Set up surveillance cameras everywhere, incentivize people to document the acts and to turn that information over to authorities and impose hefty fines on the offenders.  Though this may sound simple and foolproof, surprisingly, this would require some major fundamental changes in our social attitudes.  Nevertheless, the following proposals would solve (or greatly reduce) not only the problem of graffiti but a whole host of other problems, as well.

1. Informants

Crowd-sourcing policing is the most effective and least expensive way to gather and filter information about criminal behavior throughout a society.

2. Widespread Use of Video Cameras In Public

Widespread use of cameras would enable a higher degree of objectification when determining guilt and would lower the need to rely upon people’s testimonies.

3. Police Sting Operations

Strategic sting operations should be widely used but designed to only catch criminals who would clearly commit a crime when presented the opportunity to do so.

4. Punishments Denominated Primarily In Terms of Money

Only crimes committed directly against people should require those criminals to be placed in a controlled environment, such as a prison.  Most crimes are not crimes committed directly against people, but against property or indirectly against people.  These crimes could be adequately punished through the use of monetary fines.  The advantages of this strategy should be clear: far less spent on prison and other detention centers and a healthier, more productive, and less criminally inclined segment of the population.