I think a better solution is to bring back the concept of 'outlaws'. People who live outside the law by commiting crimes should be punished by having their own legal rights removed. No prison costs. No execution costs. Lets just see how long they last with no right to protection from the people they are committing crimes against.

We pretty much have that system here in Texas. It doesn't work very well. Most of these people live outside of normal, functional, society anyway so removing their legal rights makes essentially no difference. Unfortunately, there are too many people getting caught in the crossfire.