Show me peoples’ Incentives and I’ll tell you how they’ll behave.

Saudi Arabia, not my favorite country; not by a looooongggg shot, but the fact that the country, according to Google, has one theft per 2.5 million people per year, is an easy prediction to make. WHY? — You get caught stealing and they chop off your hand.

Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore have drug problems; they execute drug dealers.
A quick game theoretical calculation and nearly everyone decides they value their life more any profit that might be derived. Further, even for the rare person whose doesn’t, it would be nearly impossible to find a counterpart to engage in this highly risky endeavor.
Much as you can train a dog or a dolphin with incentives, human behavior is also malleable.

Which leads me to crime in the United States and the DA’s who have decided to virtue signal by not prosecuting shoplifting under $950. What is this going to do? You are removing some of the minimal de-incentives that previously existed. From a game theoretical aspect, it’s heads the criminal wins; tails, nothing really bad happens.

And what has taken place in locales where they publicly announce shop lifting will not be prosecuted? You guessed, theft is up. To the point in Seattle, some businesses have started to close their doors. 

Imagine owning a hobby store, and someone walks in and grabs an $800 airplane, and races out the door.; you’re powerless to do much of anything. Even if you know the thief/ have him on camera, the police aren’t going to waste their time to file paperwork when the DA won’t prosecute. And who can blame them? 

Further, even if you catch the guy and retrieve your item this one time, there is less and less little societal shame associated with theft. Some on the left will say that it’s one way to take back from the greedy entrepreneurs and store owners. They actually applaud the thieves for taking action, or excuse their behavior in some Orange Man Bad tirade.
And this isn’t Jean Valjean stealing a loaf of bread to feed is dying children. last time I looked Americans weren’t exactly lacking.
Given this game theoretical outlook, how can you possibly stay in business, you’re done, and every employee you have gets kicked to the curb.
Then the public starts paying the employees unemployment insurance. The trust we have between us decreases, society breaks down, and prices rise as we collectively pay for theft.
Furthermore, when people are rewarded, or in this case there is no punishment, they naturally continue going and spiraling down the crime path, causing further harm to society. It also teaches others watching that crime pays.
It’s the Broken windows theory,  is a criminological theory that states that visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior, and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes.

When someone steals from a store it is a tax on EVERY SINGLE one of us.

Fake compassion is being sold for votes. The woke DA’s who fail to enforce laws that do actual harm to others, are in fact destroying society, by not doing their job.
You can argue that there shouldn’t be laws against things like prostitution or the use of drugs, because it is a mutually agreed upon exchange of goods, but you won’t find a sane person who would say the same about theft. And these laws must be enforced.
I’m not advocating for Saudi Arabian hand chopping, or death for dealing drugs, but I am telling you that incentives we offer to society make it very easy to predict group behavior.
Improper use of incentives and disincentives, will help unravel mutual trust and our society faster than any enemy of theUnited States could hope for.