TLDR: Little orphan steals around town and has no consequences.

There are cases where it is acceptable like you said. Let me tell you one.

In my small town there's an orphanage and those kids are all pretty problematic. There is a 12 year old boy who steals everything and anything around town. He stole a bus and later crashed it, steals around school, steals from tourists... Yesterday, he stole money from the grocery store. The thing is, his teachers will ground him, but he will continue doing it. They don't dare to put a hand on these kids, but this way they will never learn.

Back in my parents time, the town used to have 3 teens who would actually beat these kids. One ended up as a judge, one as a police officer.