It is the Golden Rule, treat others as you would have them treat you.
I agree completely. Most of these stores have policies in place to ensure maximum prosecution; all cases are supposed to be treated equally. They have no problem with ruining teenage kids lives with a felony conviction, so I think this is a good precedent. The police are the first line of defense against “law enforcement” versus “justice”; it amazes me how many times intent is not even considered... You are presumed to have intentionally stolen something unless you can prove otherwise. Maybe these cops will think before they ruin other peoples lives over this kind of crap if they get equal treatment. The difference is, they won’t get equal treatment. They have a paid legal defense fund that will ensure they don’t have to rely on a public defender, and the jury will sympathize with them; the people whose lives they indiscrimantly ruin over this kind of petty stuff don’t have that luxury. And yes, I have known some of them, so it is a little personal.