Crime and Punishment

I'd like to philosophize with you a moment.
As a crime fighter, what is the best way fight crime?
If you see a crime in progress, is it enough to simply stop the crime from occurring? To let the attractive female or diminutive male walk away with their person or goods mostly intact? This is the obvious and primary goal, but what about the thief, crackhead, rapist, murderer, etc. that put this scene into motion? How does one deal with them?
Someone once said something to the tune of:
If someone strikes us, I believe we should strike back. We must - so hard that they never strike us again.
With a lot of criminals, if you stop them from committing one crime, they're just going to go out and commit another - as if they'd gone to one store that didn't have what they needed, so they have to try another.
If we are truly fighters of crime, then what do we do about this? A friend once read a book that took place in a future where criminals had warnings of their past crimes tattooed in large letters across their forehead. While I like this idea, it's not very practical for just one person to do.
How could you prevent someone ever committing a crime again, and maybe even using them as a warning to others?
People get put in prison all the time and when they get out (because they've been in prison) no one will hire them, so they often end up even more likely to commit a crime.
Also, think of the person that they were attacking. Some types of crime really screw up a person, sometimes for life. It results in a feeling of fear and powerlessness.
Is there any way to give them their power (and life) back before it ruins them? Is there any way that you can make sure that the criminal never does anything like that again?
I'll leave it to you to think about.

Stay Super.

PS - Just under a month until the deadline for applications!