Larceny is defined as the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods of another from his or her possession with intent to convert them to the takers own use. To bluntly say it, larceny is stealing from others. No matter what the motives or reasons behind stealing are, it is still wrong. I imagine there is a multitude of motives for someone to convince himself or herself that it is worth the risk to steal something. Some other people might also not have the conscience to feel wrong for stealing. A large part of this is because people do not understand who or what they are harming when they steal.
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It is very common to become self-indulged and only worry about your problems. Even after being caught someone might only feel bad for himself or herself. This is a very serious issue that needs to be addressed both personally and in the masses. One of the biggest overlooked damages of stealing is the negative effect it has upon the economy. The original items being stolen are being priced high because stores have to make up for their economic deficits from shoplifters. If shoplifting stopped in the first place, then shoplifters would not even have the motive to steal items because of their price.
This alone could significantly reduce shoplifters if the facts were better known. Also when items are stolen, it significantly hurts the stores profit. Stealing is damaging enough to actually force stores into foreclosure. When there are fewer stores open, then prices will rise when there is no business competition. Without competition, businesses will raise their prices knowing they are the only ones with certain products. This hurts the whole community who will have to pay more money for items and these are customers who don’t illegally steal. When stores are shutdown, jobs are also lost. This is both economically and morally painful.
Selfish acts of larceny are causing hard working citizens to loose jobs and suffer. Larceny also deprives communities of important resources that could be outsourced to better uses. One of the extremely important resources wasted because of stealing is a community’s police force. When someone decides to steal, they are causing the police to take time out of their day to deal with minor issues. While this happens, there are other important issues occurring where people’s lives could be at risk and police resources are needed. Shoplifters need to think about how they are affecting their community’s safety, not just theirs.
Petty crimes like larceny are a burden on police and it is a citizen’s moral duty to understand who they are hurting when they steal. Along with the police being misused, court systems are also using their time and effort for petty things. Millions of people volunteer or are paid to bring justice to those who break the law. Although stealing is extremely wrong and it is an important issue to be addressed, a court’s time and effort would be better spent on dealing with bigger issues. Once again, when someone shoplifts they don’t understand who they are hurting and the burden they are placing on a community.
These issues need to be more focused on, and the harms they cause people and the community need to be highlighted. Along with a community being hurt, his or her actions negatively affect those personally close to the shoplifter as well. Whether it is a mother, father, sibling, or child, there is always someone else being hurt when stealing takes place. It is very easy for the shoplifter to only worry about him or her and not think about the emotional wear and tear being placed on the shoulders of someone who cares about them.
It is natural instinct for someone to care about the hardships someone arrested will face, no matter how many times they are told they should not have to worry and it is not their fault; it will not stop the hurt. Although this heavily depends on the shoplifter’s relationship with his or her loved one, it is never worth stealing something when you can cause heavy amounts of worry for others. Possibly the largest issue involved with larceny is the types of examples it shows to future generations and current generations. No matter who you are, if you are older then someone, then that younger child looks up to you for guidance.
In a society where stealing is not condoned, it will show children and future generations that stealing can be rationalized and worth the risk. When the morals of generations are tainted by larceny, it will continue on and on. Shoplifting is illegal and is not just effecting your generation, but the generations to come. If you act badly, so will the children that look up to you for guidance. So when they start to accept larceny as acceptable in their society, they pass it on to the next generation. There is only one way this horrific problem can be resolved, and that is for one generation to set the standard and raise the bar.
I do not believe that others or I can wait for someone else to come and set the standard; we need to learn from our mistakes and correct them so they don’t happen again. There is a multitude of ways to begin to do so. The first one is to obviously understand the harms of stealing on a personal level and make the choice to never indulge in stealing. The second and just as important way to stop the acceptance of larceny is to speak up when it is needed. If someone else is wrongly misguided and planning on stealing, it is a responsible citizen’s duty to speak up against stealing.
If you are lucky enough to realize the consequences of stealing and someone has offered to teach you what is the right path, then you must recognize your new role as the teacher and responsibility to inform others of your new knowledge. I can only pray that people will step up in order to help stop larceny and I will do my part to help. Stealing can also result in extremely dangerous situations for the shoplifter or the person being stolen from. Emotions flare and rational thinking can be lost when illegal acts are being performed. During the act of stealing, horrible mistakes can be made.
Even though no one thinks they would ever do anything extremely wrong, in the moment it is impossible to tell. When someone steals they are risking far more then penalties for stealing. Fights can easily break out if a shoplifter is trying to get away, and a shoplifter can get so scared they would even try to kill someone trying to stop them. As easy as that, a bad situation can turn into a life-changing act that will affect lives forever. Also, when you steal from someone that person might be angered and retaliate, possibly killing the shoplifter.
It is never worth stealing, not only is it illegal but the risks are far greater then they appear. When I personally decided to steal, I never truly understood how little I knew. It was an incredibly regretful mistake and it is a horrible feeling knowing I cannot take it back. Knowing how horrible this feeling is, I feel responsible to help others so, hopefully, they will not make the same mistakes as me and have to deal with the consequences. Doing the research on larceny, and writing about it, really puts stealing into perspective and what really happens.
There is a chain of events every time someone chooses to steal something that does not belong to them. You not only run the risk of hurting yourself, but you run the risk of hurting your loved ones, your community, and innocent people that can seriously suffer because of shoplifting. I will have to live with knowing that I could have seriously hurt the success of someone or a company for my own personal benefit. This is not someone I want to be and I don’t want future generations to make the same mistake. No matter the situation, stealing is wrong and I know my responsibility to make that clear.
