we beat the kid down pretty bad(broke a few fingers and his nose), not something Im proud of but I do feel he deserved it

YES!

Having been the victim of two car thefts, all I can say is that I wish I'd had that opportunity. I wouldn't have stopped at the extremeties. I would have made sure that when I was done with him, he wouldn't have the ability to steal anything but air, and barely that.

Now, I'm a peace-loving guy for the most part. But there's nothing like being victimized to bring out the animal in someone, is there?

Then again, there's a difference between catching someone in the act (thus preventing the crime) and having your stuff already vandalized. Arriving to see my car completely wrecked by the thief is (I assume) a much more crushing blow than stopping the thief before he got away with anything. So if I'd caught someone before they'd really done any damage, I probably wouldn't have gotten angry enough to rip them up like that.