This country values human life and personal rights over property, always will. That is why the punishment for theft, burglary and robbery are different. If someone sneaks into walmart at night and steals $100 worth of stuff vs. sneaking into your home while you are at work and steals $100 worth of stuff vs. pointing a gun in your face and making you hand over $100 (or even just threatening to beat you). Three different penalties with the one done with a threat to your person being the harshest and the one done at a business or a vehicle being lower than the residence. If the law is designed to discourage certain behaviors more than others, I would prefer not being present if I were to have $100 stolen. And if I could pick between having my car ransacked or my house, I’d prefer the car. Another example is if a theif steals your car from a parking lot, the crime is not eligible for 3 strikes, if they steal it with you and your kids in it (carjacking), the penaly is harsher and it is 3 strikes eligible, take my car, leave me and my kids out of the whole transaction. If the penalties were the same there would be more carjackings and less garden variety car theft. Things are fine the way they are, if it’s my money or my life, take my money, I’ll get more.

On another note not related to criminal law 101, I am suprised we haven’t heard from coreclient or any of the people involved in the hendrix-montecastro filipino nurse murrieta church swindle that was such big news a year or so ago, local papers reported the FBI served search warrants on the big players homes in that case but I can’t find the names of those indicted to see if they were scooped up in the net.