Ouch! But speak for yourself... Incarceration for car theft may be the norm where you're from, but in this naive commune of utopian fantasists called Australia, car thieves are unlikely to get a prison sentence, unless they're repeat offenders or they do it violently. (In Victorial Magistrates Courts less than a third get a prison sentence - http://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/Sentencing+Council/resources/file/eb1ad642cf1459f/Theft_Of_A_Motor_Vehicle_MagsCourt_2008.pdf. In New South Wales 42 per cent of those convicted of car theft in any court got prison sentences in 2007, less for those charged in Lower Courts - http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/pages/bocsar_court_stats.)
Mostly they will get a suspended sentence, i.e. probation, or community service.
Yet civilisation abides! I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that American sentencing is unusually harsh. I guess prison for car theft just seems so normal to you that alternatives are unthinkable.
Mike Beggs scandalum.wordpress.com