<story><title>Missing Darwin Notebooks Returned to Cambridge University Library</title><url>https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/TreeOfLife</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>cillian64</author><text>Trying to identify the thief using evidence from their return of the notebooks seems like it would discourage people in future from returning similar stolen objects.  But I can understand not wanting the return of a stolen object to indemnify the thief, otherwise you’re encouraging “borrowing” things.  Is there a general policy or thought on how to deal with this?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>OscarCunningham</author><text>The logical policy would be to not use any evidence from the return, but to continue to allow investigation using the evidence from the theft. Of course most existing law enforcement agencies aren&amp;#x27;t trustworthy enough to credibly commit to this.</text></comment>
<story><title>Missing Darwin Notebooks Returned to Cambridge University Library</title><url>https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/TreeOfLife</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>cillian64</author><text>Trying to identify the thief using evidence from their return of the notebooks seems like it would discourage people in future from returning similar stolen objects.  But I can understand not wanting the return of a stolen object to indemnify the thief, otherwise you’re encouraging “borrowing” things.  Is there a general policy or thought on how to deal with this?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mannykannot</author><text>My guess is that, to a person on the verge of stealing such an artifact, whether there is a policy of no investigation on safe return is near the last thing on their mind. A person acting on impulse isn&amp;#x27;t putting much effort at all into thinking it through, and the motivations and attention of someone who has planned the heist in advance are all focused in the opposite direction - they have already chosen on an action in which return plays no part. Therefore, I would lean towards there being no investigation, or at least no public investigation.&lt;p&gt;The much trickier problem, not uncommon in art theft, is when the thief attempts to ransom the artifact.</text></comment>