I talked to police when I and my girlfriend were victims of a robbery. I have a few friends among lawyers (judges, attorneys and prosecutors). All of them say that the reason the police don't go after theft is that even if they catch them the courts are going to release them back or slap them on the wrist. Repeated thieves only go to jail if you collect series of cases and then they are back into it after half a year or whatever sentence they get.

The paper you linked doesn't mention aggressive, proactive policing. It wasn't tried anywhere in the Western world. It mentioned punishment comparison in UK, Sweden and US and is about general crime. All those countries have similar punishment and attitude to theft. Meanwhile countries where they cut hands or has done so in recent past has very little theft.

I tend to agree it's more important to catch thieves than punish them harshly but the point is we are not doing either so I vote for people who at least acknowledge it's a problem.