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Is it Permitted to Turn a Thief over to the Courts

in the United States?

Now, the Igros Moshe (Orach Chaim 5, 9) discusses the question of
handing over a thief to the secular authorities and concludes that it is
forbidden. He writes: “Concerning whether or not it is permitted to
hand over a thief who stole a Torah scroll and silver ornaments from
a shul, to the state court system and the police, who are known to
inflict physical suffering through prison sentences lasting for many
years...”

He responds as follows: “Now, it seems clear that this cannot be
permitted. Even if there were no prohibition of judging according to
the law of the land, before the state’s judges, we ought not to hand
him over in this case, to be subjected to penalties that cannot be im-
posed according to Torah law, which mandates that he pay money
according to an expert assessment [of the value of the stolen items],
whereas they inflict suffering which the Torah does not impose. See
in Mo’ed Katan (17a), the case of Resh Lakish who was guarding an
orchard [when] a man came and ate some [of the orchard’s] figs. Resh
Lakish raised his voice at the man but he ignored him, so he placed a
ban upon him. The man said, “No, it is you who should be under a
ban – if you have a monetary claim against me [for the stolen figs], are
you justified in placing me under a ban?!” When Resh Lakish asked
about this in the beis hamedrash they said,“The ban he placed on you
is valid; the one you placed on him is not” and Resh Lakish had to
have the ban rescinded.

“We thus see that even when dealing with a thief it is forbidden
to impose a more stringent punishment than that imposed by the
Torah. It is therefore clear that physical beating, sitting in jail and all
[other types of ] physical suffering are forbidden. Anyone who beats
him after he has stolen incurs the penalty of lashes for transgress-
ing the prohibition, “He shall not administer any further [lashes]”
(Devarim 25:3) and it is only permitted to beat him before he steals,
in order to prevent him from stealing, as in the case Bava Kama

298 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein