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It seems pretty clear how people should think about stealing, so it's hard to figure what sort of change the counselors at Theft Talk might have in mind, but it is to be hoped that it is nothing like what the legal minds of England think people should think about theft (as reported in Liberty magazine's May, 2003 issue):
A homeowner who shot a burglar while defending his family has been put in jail. The career criminal who burgled him has been convicted more than 30 times for burglary and other violent crimes. He has been given government aid to sue the homeowner. The homeowner, a farmer living in a rural area whose home had been broken into several times in the past, has been denied parole because he is deemed a danger to future burglars.
The chief justice has directed judges not to imprison first or even second-offense burglars. One judge took this to extremes, freeing a professional burglar with 51 previous convictions, saying he hoped the man would give up drugs and develop his talent for writing poetry. British police solve only 12 percent of burglaries, usually offering victims only a free session of "distress counseling" and not even attempting to solve the crime -- unless, of course, the homeowner attempted to resist the burglary, in which case the homeowner is arrested.
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