Well sadly I think it is probably all too common expecially with juveniles. I know a local kid who stole and broke into every house in the neighborhood. Everything from kayaks, ATVs to firearms. He would go away for a while and come right back. Now he is no longer underage - has beat his GF when she would not "take care of him" and we called the cops many times when he would be beating her in the front yard. He would run, she would not press charges, black eyes were just not enough for the cops to do something. He got her pregnant, was still beating her at least weekly, until she presses charges nothing they could do. Lives with his grandmother, she had him locked up 3-4 times for beating her as well, she would drop the charges after about a week and poof the magic criminal back in the neighborhood.
Sometimes a menace is just that, and the only way for others to be safe is when he finally steps over yet another of 100 lines and cops take care of it, or he pisses off the wrong drug dealer/thug, breaks in while someone is home and becomes a statistic.