Theft and Robbery in the Book of Mormon and in Near Eastern Law

There is good evidence that most legal systems in the ancient Near East distinguished between crimes of theft and robbery. A thief was a local person who stole from his neighbor and was dealt with judicially, whereas robbers were outsiders who attacked in open force and were dealt with militarily. John Welch explores the extent to which similar legal and cultural perceptions of thieves and robbers are evidenced in the Book of Mormon.