Here’s another ethical issue and Jewish source response:

Case

Everyone knew that Roger was a thief.  He had been caught many times. Judy’s video game was missing from her desk.  Everyone suspected Roger. Judy went over and asked Roger. He said, “No way!”  Even so, Aviva saw it in his desk. She recognized it from the Band-Aid that held the lid over the batteries shut.  The week that Judy had bought it she had dropped it, and Aviva had fixed it with a purple Band-Aid with flowers all over it.  They got into a big argument over what to do. Aviva wanted Judy to just steal her game back from Roger. Judy said, “Stealing is wrong – even from a thief.  I would go tell Morah Sarah, our teacher.” Sivan heard them talking and said, “Squealing would be wrong, too. The three of us should go to Roger and tell him that we know – and that he has to give it back.” 

Answer

[a] In the Torah it says: “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20.13).  In Leviticus we find the same commandment: “ You shall not steal, you shall not deal falsely, and you shall not lie to one another: You shall not swear falsely by My name, thereby desecrating the Name of your God – I am the Eternal. “ (Leviticus 19: 11-12)  

[b] The rabbis wanted to know why this commandment was repeated.  In the Sifra, a midrash on Leviticus, Ben BagBag explains that the Leviticus version of this mitzvah means, “ Do not even steal back from a thief that which s/he has stolen from you, so that you will not appear to be a thief yourself.”

Ben BagBag learned this from the rest of the verse, which is all about deceit.  It is Dealing Falsely even if it is not actually stealing. It is meant to keep society from becoming a mess, with people stealing and stealing back.  

[c] A little bit further on in Leviticus 19 it says: “You must not hate your brother or sister in your heart.  You must certainly rebuke your neighbor. (“Rebuke” is giving them negative feedback that could help them.) And not carry a sin because of them.” (Lev. 19:17)

The rabbis were interested in the arrangement of this verse, with three mitzvot jammed into one sentence. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains the connection between (1) and (2):  “You shall not hate… in your heart. The verse speaks of your enemy as your brother. Even though he wronged you, think of him as a brother and do not fall prey to hatred.

The Sifra explained the connection between (2) and (3):”And do not bear a sin because of him.”  It is a mitzvah to rebuke someone who has wronged you – but if you do it the wrong way, you will be sinning.  Be careful not to embarrass the person.

In this case the rabbis want you to confront the thief and perform the mitzvah of tokhekhah (rebuke), or if that will not work, they want you to use the courts – in this case, the teachers.

Joel Grishaver, “You Be the Judge”, pgs. 61-63

Used with permission from Joel Grishaver