I'm of two minds about this.
On one hand, clearly flouting the law is ~punished (even though the measure is not supposed to be punishment, but an acute way to prevent repeats of similar offenses).
On the other hand, "driving without a license" is part of a positive feedback loop is many states and often means "driving while being in debt". Some states:
a) refuse license renewal/suspend licenses as part of debt collection,
b) condition license reacquisition on relative lack of driving infractions, which include "driving without a license/with a suspended license" regardless of the reason for the license's suspension.
(I spent a week of evenings in 2020 or 2021 watching proceedings around misdemeanors from some random court in Michigan, and traffic cases seemed to mostly be parts of that or similar feedback loop.)
