Well, correct my if I'm wrong, but in some states the US you can also get a criminal record from public intoxication or urination and in the later case be required to register as a sex offender?
Yes, that was essentially my point. If something goes on your record you will presumably have a harder time getting jobs or renting rooms, especially if your already have low status. Presumably the reason to make these punishments "more harsh" than the damage of the crime is to enforce social behavior. In some way that seem more harsh then the Chinese version. Even if China is worse in most ways, it's sometimes more relaxed than the US when it comes to personal freedoms.
The US does have a track record of being blase about its officers of the peace killing people in the streets, for example. The US has fantastic freedom of speech and expression, but it also sends SWAT teams into peoples' houses and cheers the purchase of tanks for its police departments. Similarly, police can legally just take your money if they feel like it.
Yes, the US is not as bad as China as a place to live (look at the migration flow between them for simple proof), but it's worth noting that the same way people explain away the US's flaws can be done in other countries as well.
I believe you're unfairly characterizing the US being "blase about its officers of the peace killing people in the streets" there were approximately 990 people killed by police in 2015 and 2016. In a country of 325M with the focus on highly dense urban areas. In a particular segment that constitutes less than a quarter of those deaths there has been heavy rioting and police officers hunted and murdered as a result.
And you say riots and police being hunted? There is violent unrest in China, too. In both the US and China, the middle-class and the folks in power just hand-wave away the concerns of the victimised demographics, finding excuses for the state's poor treatment of them.
As many people are mocking and blocking #blacklivesmatter as are supporting it. What are those in power actually doing in response to the upset demographics in the US? Hot air. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Nothing with any real bite. Hence, blase.
You can, but I think that the proper punishment for such actions would be 'a mark' on your legal identification listing you as unfit for 'recreational chemicals'. You'd be on probation for N number of years, and if you were otherwise a good citizen you'd have that 'fall off' your record. Actively violating that during the probation period would mark you as an offender (dangerous to society); though 'incidental' violation (E.G. ordering a food item that happens to have some residual) wouldn't.
The 'third strike' should, irrespective, mark you as a dangerous member of society, though depending on circumstances some stronger treatment might result in a different outcome.
Pissing in public puts you on probation for years, and doing so three times in total (or once more in your years of probation) = dangerous member of society?
I'm scared to think of what your utopia looks like.