Yep
The fact that they are stealing from a person who is clearly caring for an infant means that they are sadly misunderstood.
Their aversion to a pram is probably because they were traumatised by a Silver Cross in their childhood. Perhaps a repressed memory. What we should do is divert money from healthcare, education for the law abiding and pensions and give them a nice job at the states expense..and perhaps a nice outward bounds holiday?
It cannot be that they are thieving little no marks that deserve a thump after all - what they really need is a nice reward rather than a punishment
Or five minutes with a knotted ploughline
No, no, no.
The way most of these people are brought up means that they are inured to physical violence.
Custodial sentences in good old fashioned prisons would help. We as a society seem to have given up on trying to reform our criminals. Instead we lock them up after years of unpaid fines and ASBOs and community service orders, in prisons with more facilities than they have at home. Indeed some of them look forward to getting banged up.
Short sentences in no frill, basic accommodation, with no access to drugs or the latest wii type gadgets might make a difference.
At the moment offenders are more or less guaranteed a "walk away" from court; if they found themselves in jail instead it might just make the idea of serial offending a little less attractive.
Or of course we could spend our taxes on improving the conditions in which a lot of folks live and educate the parents on how to give their kids a good upbringing; I won't hold my breath though.