The situation is sick. The guy who killed Polly Klaas should have been locked up for good. Others are in for many years because they were carrying around some marijuana.
On the topic of stealing food and Les Miserables, I once worked for an attorney who had a client accused of food stamp fraud. This poor woman was a single parent working for minimum wage and supporting her child as well as her mother, and, somehow, she managed to get "too many" food stamps?! I was appalled!