[hnamazon123]

There's a cost to society >$5 in value when you allow someone so fundamentally anti-social to repeatedly victimize people.

Keep in mind he was only sentenced after he was caught and the store owner pressed charges.

[nordify]

It costs society far more to imprison him for life. If we are optimizing for cost to society then it should be possible to find at least one other local minimum between the loss to society of a $5 petty theft and life imprisonment.