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Comment by throwaway7783 | Hacker News Reader

I have zero sympathy for someone who stole a $200 necklace that my mother gifted my wife, as a token of remembrance and melted it to get some gold. $200 is not an issue. The memories associated with that artifact, the legacy - That is the issue. And in CA, the laws encourage petty crime like this, because of dollar value.

I don't know why I should care about if this thief is capable of change or should be rehabbed. I want to kick the shit out of the thief and get the necklace back, because this person has caused so much anguish to me and my family.

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True, you're owed by this thief, and unfortunately they stole a sum that can likely not be repaid. I imagine there are no amount of years someone can sit in a box that will make you feel better about that.

To me, when someone does something like this the criminal justice system is supposed to figure out why they did it (drugs, opportunity, gangs, etc) and rehab them accordingly so they don't go on to repeat this behavior in the future. What happens all too often is we stick them in a box, never rehabilitate them, and they go on to learn more about criminal activity in prison only to commit worse offenses when they get out. You don't have to care, the criminal justice system does because it's within their charter to do so.

How does this stop the next thief from doing the same? Looks like I will loose everytime and the thief has no consequences other than someone analyzing why they did it? Who cares about my loss?

Keep in mind, I'm not advocating putting someone in a box. I have no solution either. I haven't seen proof that doing what CA is doing reduces pretty crime either. So paint me skeptical

Ideally the magic would be in the rehab actually solving the problem. Maybe it's helping them get their lives back on track or correcting a mental health issue. I wouldn't say the thief loses money, a court taking guardianship of someone to do rehab isn't going to be a day at the spa or something. They're going to have to do pretty life changing work in that paradigm. I don't know if you've ever done enough introspection to change your life, but that is not some easy or fun endeavor imo.

The purpose of the criminal justice system wasn't to make you feel better or to get you your stuff back. Sometimes that happens but it's mostly by chance and not by design. Really, the system wasn't built to facilitate revenge, that's just the way it works now. That's where things like insurance come in. No insurance program is going to value a family heirloom the way you value it though.

I'm yet to see this magic happen anywhere in the world. Also doesn't address repeat offenders. The purpose of the criminal justice system is enforcement, judiciary and corrections. You are talking about just corrections. I don't even see enforcement for many many crimes.

And, yes, no insurance will cover my emotional loss. "justice" in the system seems to be missing.

If the answer to that is "deal with it", I'm obliged to return in kind the same mindset to thieves.

If the penalties are a slap on the wrist, I'll be thinking of starting a life of crime, its gotta be easier than than hard work.

Right. The line of thinking around "criminals are victims of circumstances" has always stumped me. It completely marginalizes the actual victims of crime, "property damage is no big deal, covered by insurance". I wonder how many people advocating that line have gone through such a thing themselves

SB-82 for California would make your crime a misdemeanor, so even more of a slap in the face to you. The cops wouldn’t even bother responding to it if you reported it, it’s sickening.

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