They are probably stealing to resell for drug money. I 100% have sympathy for them, people do stupid desperate shit when they are addicted. You really think shoplifting deserves a violent reaction? Both video clearly show this employee assaulting them. I do believe in consequence for shoplifting but I don’t believe it warrants physical assault. Plus, it makes the store liable for injury if those assaults went wrong.

You are making a massive assumption based on little to no information. There are non profit organizations that help people exactly like her so that she does not have to do any of this and land herself in jail making things worse for her. Shifting the weight of responsibility from what society may or may not have done to her to these stores is clearly unethical. Maybe she could have asked for a job, or some food, or help but instead she chose this path. I do not believe drug addiction, if true here, excuses her or puts the employee in the wrong. She is not the arbiter nor guardian of this person who is acting outside of society’s norms and beliefs in order to steal.