Would you prosecute these folks?

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   LeslieAdrienneposted 10 years ago

   Burglars With a Conscience
   
   Just read a report from San Bernadino, California which said that burglars returned everything they’d stolen and left a note of apology.  They’d gone through the roof of a non-profit that helps victims of sexual assault and taken computer equipment.
   
   Apparently, they were not aware of the kind of business it was because the next day, they returned all of the equipment with a note of apology. It brought tear to my eyes.The owners plan to frame the apology note.
   
   What you prosecute these guys?

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      psycheskinnerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Honestly, yes.  They still broke in and probably damaged the property causing them to have to pay for repairs and security upgrades, and making a loss on their insurance deductible.  They still think it is okay to steal from people.
      
      Any time is a good time to intervene and turn someone from being a criminal that hurts society to a constructive member of the community.  They made some amends to one victim but many fo their past and future victims will be just as worthy and receive no such apology.

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   2. 0

      Brenda Durhamposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi lady!   Wow.    You made a tough one here.
      I honestly dunno right now!
      ha.     But I'm leaning along the same lines as psycheskinner....

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         LeslieAdrienneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Hello my friend....I see you are still in there fighting the good fight of faith! Praise God and Amen.
         
         It becomes interesting because on the one hand, wrong is wrong and should be prosecuted as a deterrent to others. But in this case I don't think mercy and grace should be discounted. The guys were repentent and did restore all.
         
         It makes me think of Matt 18:23-35
         The king moved with compassion becase the servant was heartfully pleading. He was forgiven of a great debt; all of it. Then he, the dummy, turned around and went to his fellow servant and refused to forgive him for non-payment on a much smaller debt. He had him thrown into prison.
         
         Just because you say you are sorry doesn't mean you shouldn't pay for what you've done. And, these guys if they don't stop are going to wind up in jail. But for this specific incident, I have to side with mercy......

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            Brenda Durhamposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Yep, we gotta keep fighting the good fight even when we don't think we've got the strength anymore.
            This is a very interesting topic!
            Lisa has a point,  but yes you've covered both points! 

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            1. 57

               A Troubled Manposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               It is both saddening and disturbing that believers are compelled to keep the world in a constant state of conflict and division, never looking for peace or understanding, never wanting to give up their irrational beliefs so as to coexist with mankind, but instead promote the tribalism, hatred and bigotry their ancient myths and superstitions teach them to do.
               
               We no longer live in that time, Brenda, it is long past.

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                  Brenda Durhamposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Eh?   This is a different time, is it indeed,  Troubled Man?
                  Apparently the Accuser of the Brethren is still roaming about like the ravening wolf he's always been,  using susceptible unbelievers to do his dirty work.   
                  
                  I'll give you a bit of advice that will be helpful to your integrity,  Mister.     If you decide to quote my words again,  quote them in their entirety as far as sentence and context.     Otherwise,  your quote only shows a certain desperation to find fault where there is none.

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2. 61

   Lisa HWposted 10 years ago

   I would.  I suppose, maybe, returning the stuff should be considered in court; but besides all the stuff mentioned above, there's the sense of violation that people get when someone breaks and enters.  People who have experienced that kind of sense of violation deserve, and most often need, to know there was some kind of justice that resulted.  Some people can have a really difficult time getting over that aspect of that kind of experience, so I don't think returning the stuff necessarily "eradicates" the crime.
   
   I'm all for considering forgiving; but there' a point where a) breaking and entering and stealing bring with them the risk of being caught, and b) nobody has the right to "deem" whether violating someone else, his life, and/or his home is at all an option.  There are things people do that certainly call for overlooking, forgiving, etc.  I don't happen to think this particular thing is one of them.   

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      LeslieAdrienneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Perhaps you are right... It certainly is an emotional issue for me.... And, when feelings are involved there is always the possibility of clouded judgement. And, as you say, the sense of security must be returned to the persons who were violated.... No one wants to feel that another person can come and go as they please in what is supposed to be a safe haven, ie. their home or business.
      
      We must feel secure or at least that our security will be protected. Does this call into question our justice system? If you like someone, or something that they have done should you be less stringent with them?
      My logic says no, you should not... but here I am speaking to the opposite.
      
      What would I feel is right if it were my business or my home? hmmmmm...
      (This is getting deeper and deeper)

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      1. 61

         Lisa HWposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         It's not even that people need to again feel a sense of security with regard to not worrying about it happening again.  When someone feels violated there can be a situation when he may feel secure enough again - at least on an intellectual level and in knowing the chances of it happening again aren't great, but it is the actual sense of having been violated that people can struggle with.  Seeing some kind of appropriate justice can be what they need to find some closure, sense of resolution, and sense of justice having been done.
         
         They need it acknowledged by "the right person/people" that something violating and awful has happened to them; and they need to have those "right people", like The Court System, stand up for them, act on their behalf, and kind of "establish" that someone was victimized and someone else, in fact, harmed them just by violating their property, or worse. 
         
         There's an "emotional grounding element" to "getting back from the world" what one, himself, knows and struggles with; which is that he has been violated/victimized.  Getting that acknowledgement and minor sense of satisfaction back from the world can be the first step in feeling that "what right in this world has been restored", at least with regard to that one incident/situation.  Not making sure that the victim has that amounts to leaving the individual without that one, seemingly minor, "grounding element"; and that is, in a different and "less dramatic" way, essentially further victimizing the individual by denying him that closure he needs to move on.
         
         Here's what victims too often get:  They either get blamed for whatever someone did to them, or else they get told to "move on" or "get over it" without having anyone in the world give them that "grounding element" from which to begin moving on.
         
         Here's what criminals/offenders get from a whole lot of people:  Forgiveness for one reason or another and all kinds of compassion from any number of people.  That's fine sometimes, but not when things get to be where criminals/offenders get all the compassion and understanding and second chances; and victims get left to feel like they're "up in the air" and waiting for that "world that violated them" to "send them back something" to let them know that "world" has made things a little more right, a little more "making-sense", and a little more in keeping with the fact that when someone has been violated that person feels completely alone in this world unless/until this "world" somehow "sends them back that acknowledgement and action" that lets them know they haven't been "emotionally abandoned".  "The world" can't undo what's been done, but reasonable justice helps a victim know that, in general, the world and life is still "right", rather than being/seeming all wrong.
         
         Fair justice doesn't mean that whoever wants to forgive whoever else can't happen.  Allowing there to be no justice, however, can leave victims feeling "emotionally up-in-the-air" and unable to move on as a result of it; because people can't take steps forward if they don't feel like their "emotional feet" are on the ground - and that is unfair to victims.

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   wildernessposted 10 years ago

   Yes.  And if found guilty, sentence them to a year or two of probation.

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