You know what it costs to imprison a human being for 40-50 years? I doubt it outweighs a couple of stolen wallets...

Party of the first part: If condition C holds, response R is called for.

Party of the second part (indignant): But condition C holds!

What's your point?

50 years of imprisonment at a guesstimated cost of $30000/year: $1.5mil. Cost of two wallets: $100.

What about the huge time cost of replacing everything that was in the wallet, if replaceable, and the intangible emotional feelings of insecurity that result from letting wallet-stealers run free stealing wallets? Probably doesn’t exceed $1.5 million, but to say the cost of a wallet theft is only $50 shows absolutely no sympathy for a victim, and is not that far removed from saying, “well, the guy who stole it probably needed the money more than you do.”