> > About sixty years ago Robert A Heinlein wrote a short story/novel 
titled
> > "Coventry."  In it, anyone who was convicted of a crime was exiled to
> > "Coventry" where they spent the rest of their lives living with other
> > criminals.  Not a bad solution to the crime problem
> 
> Didn't Britian used to do that (i.e. Australia)?

Essentially, yes.