> Is this damage more then the cost of prosecuting and punishing the thieves? If not, it's not worth it. This naive first order thinking is why we can’t have n

> Is this damage more then the cost of prosecuting and punishing the thieves? If not, it's not worth it. This naive first order thinking is why we can’t have nice things. Yes, prosecuting a guy for stealing $100 headphones might cost more than the merchandise, but you cannot think about this in isolation from broader social context. By showing that you will not prosecute crimes under certain monetary value, you’re sending a signal that these can now be done with no consequence, in effect enabling more and more crime to happen. It’s not about a pair of headphones, it’s about the career of crime for the perp you’re enabling, and the crime careers of the imitators.