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Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning either scenario - I think it's wrong to snatch phones or bikes or anything and then ride off, and I particularly think it's wrong to throw acid at someone else or injure them in anyway.
What I am saying is that prevention is better cure. That is, I think in the bigger picture, it would be better to focus energies on trying to improve the lot of everyone so that some people are not tempted into doing these acts in the first place. And the way to do that, I think, is not by increasing punishment ("afterwards") but by trying to find opportunities ("beforehand").
d0cA
PhilDAS
Snatching a phone or bike and riding off because you're poor is "fine" - no one is really hurt aside from financially, and if I had to have a proper crime committed against me, an involuntary donation of a few hundred pounds (i.e. my phone) to a non-violent poor person is about the best one I could pick.
However, disfiguring someone with acid shows a level of callousness and sadism that means you aren't safe to be around other people, and no one should be attempting to excuse behaviour like that. A lack of opportunities doesn't give you the right to ruin someone else's life forever.