Some are, but your childhood friends aren't the people who are causing this letter to be sent.
The people committing this level of crime do need the income this theft generates to survive.
Later on I knew people who stole electronics --not as juveniles any more. It was just easy money for a night's work. They didn't have to put in 40. Didn't have a foreman. They'd brag about how easy it was...
So, I don't believe they have not alternative but this. It may be an "easier" option compared to other options, but it's not their last option. No. People in the Eastern block had less purchasing power than a poor person in the US. They did not have a culture of thievery. One, they were not a consumerist society and two, they would give no quarter to thieves.
That's a great way to ignore the problems of people not like you.
I'm sure you'll change your story to further illustrate how evil you think these people are, but the reality is they're not evil, and they don't really have other options, regardless of what went down in your world when you were younger.
No matter how many times you say otherwise, people would rather not steal. Fix their circumstances, fix their behavior. If you actually cared about solving the problem, you’d care about helping these people.
But no. For you, this is about petty vindictive retribution. Your inability to empathize with someone not like you creates a cycle of hate that’s self perpetuating, further exacerbating the problem rather than being effective in finding a lasting solution.
You need to get out of your bubble man.
I've got a number of other comments here at this point that cite sources which explain things better than I'll ever be able to, if you're actually curious, I recommend you read those sources (and others, "are people good?" is a fairly well trod area of psychology, and indeed philosophy).
If you were in their situation, you'd do exactly as they would, you just had a better situation in your life. We owe it to them to give them that shot.
I know it's easier to blame these people for their choices, but in a lot of cases, there never really was any other choice for them. "Just don't do crime" isn't really a choice you can make when nobody explains to you what else there is to do that gives you any real shot in this world.
I'll repeat, because it's important: you'd do exactly the same thing these people have done, if you had their set of experiences.
We need to stop trying to be devoid of personal responsibility as a society.
Why is it important to you to focus on the bad people, when there are many, many more people who aren't bad?
You’re telling me the vast majority of people wouldn’t take advantage of others if they ended up with serious power.
History and personal experience tell me otherwise. People are not basically good.
This isn't opinion, and these are just easily accessible sources. There are a lot more, and a lot more rigorous sources, if you're actually interested.
The alignment of incentives and the perception (or lack thereof) of choice does a lot more work than you apparently are aware of.
At this point, it seems like I'm trying to reason you out of an opinion you didn't reason yourself into, which is both sad and futile, so I'm going to stop.
[0] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-probe-...
[1] https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_science_he...
[2] https://www.zmescience.com/science/humans-are-good-in-nature...
[3] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/social-animals/20191...
[4] https://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/5/23/15516752/science...
[5] https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/good-company-why-we-ne...
[6] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/14/selfis...
[7] https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20130114-are-we-naturally...
Anyway, the question under discussion is whether maybe we should change their experiences, so they don’t do this sort of thing anymore.
I know it’s popular to say that we only need positive reinforcement, that we can accomplish everything good just by saying “yes.”
That is false.
As for the claim that you'd behave as they would, were you in their situation, that's basic Situational Action Theory [0], a well studied theory in criminology that attempts to explain crimes as moral actions.
The irrational focus on the relatively small number of "because I wanted to" type crimes is very popular in conservative circles, but isn't an accurate or helpful view of why crime is committed, and it's not shared by the plurality of experts who study this topic academically.
Most people will not embezzle from their company —but some will despite not needing to and being aware of the risks. They just have the opportunity to. The same behavior happens in other spheres.
Most theft is not due to impending dire straights. It’s opportunity for quick cash of loot without needing to go through the tribulations of getting a paying gig.
You don't know my situation or my past. I can say that you clearly don't understand criminals, criminality or even destitution.
Nonsense! It's possible you learned everything you know about people by reading it from a book.
This is a report from the real world: everyone (at least in the US) these days get a "shot" and while some are lucky enough to be born with a silver spoon, most people who are below middle class get lots of extra attention and resources paid for by everyone else (who work for a living). Opportunity is there and is often just left on the table in favor of anti-social (more entertaining) behaviors. Sorry, but it's true. If you want to "owe" other people something, go ahead, I'm tired of paying the bills for other people's sentimentalism.
No, the people that work for a living are the people below middle class, hence why the class below the (petit bourgeois) niddle class in capitalism is known as the “working class”.
It may surprise you to learn how many people in my life have not gotten a "shot", how many have, and how many have gotten vastly more than their fair of a "shot" in life. Those are the circumstances, and when you find yourself in similar circumstances, with a similar set of life experiences as someone else, you tend to make similar choices as they would. Humans, generally, act similarly, all else being equal.
To quote MLK, "It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps." [0]
The people who are stealing from these trains are, by and large, men without boots.
Most of those people are working and paying taxes, as many benefits programs are stipulated on first having a job. Those benefits are also laughably terrible to non-existent, as well, and vary heavily from state to state.
Also, many people who are "below middle class" are not eligible for the programs, anyway. The federal poverty level is something like $12k a year for an individual, and benefits are cut off if you earn more than that.