Ethically speaking, should all crimes be considered equal? Are some crimes worse than others? Let us take stealing. Here are three different examples of theft:-
1. A kid steals a sweet from a sweet shop because of peer pressure.
2. A mum steals a loaf of bread because she has no food for her child
3. A person robs a store at gun point to fund his drug habit
Should the punishment be equal in all the cases? Personally I disagree. I think that perhaps the kid could be let off with a warning, the mum be given financial assistance and perhaps a suspended sentence and the last person should be punished instantly. Why do I think that. Well the child just bowed to peer pressure and is not necessarily a bad child. The child can be encouraged to be productive in society and can still be taught right from wrong. The mother did what she did out of necessity for her child to survive. But the final case, the person stole because he was rotten to the core.
So in the following case, how should he be punished?