The Treaty of Versailles was very harsh on Germany: it had to make huge reparations to the other countries, and it spend years with a very poor economy because of these reparations. This frustrated people and paved way for extremism (which came in the form of Hitler).
Often first time offenders would have the ability to turn around their behavior. Being exposed to the severe criminal element of prisons or jails could in fact breed a worse criminal rather than deterring them from their felonious or criminal behavior. I think the severity of the act should depend on the jail time associated with it and if they are able to enroll in diversion programs. So it some ways I would argue that it is fair.
