Justice. Les miserables

i am currently reading les miserables. the main character, Jean Valjean, has been a convict for 19 years. 5 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread, and 14 years for 4 attempted escapes. The main social issue in this book is punishment. It is quite clear that 19 years is too much for stealing some bread.  What really bothers me is the fact that according to his record he is a very dangerous person. What makes it so unjust is that no one knows the true reason why he was imprisoned. the report from his case says that he was sentanced for burglary and attempted escape. although this is true, it lacks detail and i would say that it exaggerates the real situation. and due to this Jean Valjean has now been stripped of his rights as a person. No one wants to help him because they are afraid of him.   this leads me to my point;  how do we know if the punishment fits the crime? and how do we decide on an appropriate punishment for a crime?  different people have different opinions on how to punish a crime. so how can everyone come to an agreement?  i believe that this is one of the biggest social issues of the world. its everyday that you hear stories on the news about some kind of crime and you always wonder whats going to happen to the person responsible for the crime. and sometimes you may think that the punishment is too harsh or sometimes its too mild. but how can we develop a system for punishing crime the right way so that everyone can be in agreement, and is it even possible to do so? les miserables takes place during the early 1800s, so right away you can see how far we've come to punish crime in a more fair way. but there are still places in our world where punishment for crime is not fair, and even in places where it is, there are exceptions. our world is far from perfect, but if everyone realizes the mistakes we may be able to create justice.