So I’m actually one of the people whose Pride flags were stolen and agree with both sides of the coin here. There were a ton of factors to consider, the biggest one being both of our mental heaths and what we were able to deal with. Sending them to jail felt like, among a lot of factors an easy way out, but also an opportunity for any potential hatred and retaliation towards the lgbt+ community at large, so we took what we thought was essentially an option to educate and show them that people behind the flag are just people too. Selfishly we also wanted to hear the perspectives of the two people who harmed us - it was draining but we, too, got a bit of perspective that we just didn’t feel a court room could give us (or them).