It's tough. The crimes outlined, simple battery (two drunks get in a fight at the bar), lying to a peace officer, and simple possession (minor amount of pot) are all pretty irrelevant in the great scheme of things.
But the fact is that people are continuity breaking these laws. They went the wrong way with this. Simple scenario, your 15 and your curfew is 11pm. If all you ever got as a punishment was a 30sec spiel from your folks, no one would ever be home. But if you were late, and your parents handled you your *** and you couldn't do anything for a month, you'd be home right on the dot everytime.
Of course, no one wants to live in Nazi Germany, where you're afraid to jaywalk and get tossed in the slammer either... So it's a balancing act.