My point was actually much better encapsulated by the public defender above; that is, people who were protesting the hard line against the theft were mostly talking about whether the guy needed the coffee in order to survive, which is natural. But even beyond that, the criminal justice system is so brutal (both in its immediate effects and its long-term consequences) that I’d say we should be trying to keep people who commit minor harms out of it if possible, regardless of whether or not they are an authentic Jean Valjean.

PS, Asian raised-Catholic-but-not-really-involved-anymore solidarity.

And I also don’t think Logan chose to do the wrong thing and never says she does (she chose that title while putting this post together). She chose to do one thing, and I would likely choose to do another, just like you might choose to say something depending on how you were feeling on a particular day. I think that the reason we choose to do one thing rather than another is often drawn from our own experiences. Personally, I was taught that stealing is wrong both by my family and church, and although I’m no longer a practicing Catholic, I still feel very strongly that it’s wrong. I also had a very good friend who was brutally attacked and put in the hospital for a long time, and the reason her attacker was found not long after was because he was caught after someone reported him for theft. Even so, I do understand that people steal to survive and their reasons aren’t always malicious, and that the criminal justice system is hard on people who are down and out, and these problems are deep-rooted and institutional and that there should be more programs and options available to help people so that they never have to resort to stealing in the first place. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that I’m not always a coldhearted narc, I swear.

Although, if this was my favorite mom and pop place where I learned to smoke cloves and read dark books while drinking black coffee, I’d probably tell the guy to hit the bricks.