Does this punishment fit the crime?

”An 18-year-old Virginia man who was caught shoplifting at a costume store has accepted a rather unusual punishment.”

“Andrew Perry, the owner of the Halloween Express costume store in Charlottesville, told the light-fingered teenager that he would not call the police – if instead the youth stood in front of the store with a sign saying he was caught shoplifting.”

”In a bizarre twist, Mr Perry also told the boy that he would have to dress as Sesame Street character Bert, as in Bert and Ernie. So the teenager agreed to spend six hours over two days in front of the store, in costume, holding a sign that reads: ‘I got caught shoplifting at Halloween Express.”

“Mr Perry said he came up with the unorthodox punishment because he didn’t want the shoplifter to have a criminal record.”

So I ask what my fellow Jellies think of citizens taking crime and punishment into their own hands like this store owner did. The kid agrees to do this and avoids a criminal record, tax dollars are saved from prosecuting petty crimes? Is this a good way to settle criminal issues or a disaster waiting to happen? Will others now want to take crime and punishment into their own hands??