Family friend of ours was a retired rural police officer. Being based in such a small place he knew everybody on sight and pretty much their family tree/relations to everybody else. He said much the same as you- particularly if it was a boy or younger man, a threat to come round to their house to speak to their mother worked better than any threat of arrest. In a lot of cases, word quickly got to the arrested person's mother and she'd come storming down the street with a rolling pin/spoon/broom in hand and start giving their son hell.

He actually jokingly said that they should have given all the village mothers police uniforms. The crime rate would be zero because everyone would be petrified of getting the spoon.