Should a persons age have a bearing on an arrest? how young is too young and how old is too old?
This woman had worked for a shoe manufacturer for about 60 years. for years, she was suspected of stealing expensive shoes from her employer. a trap was set for her, at the employers request, to catch this person stealing the company’s shoes. she was observed bringing in lunch for her group of employees in metal pots and pans. after lunch, she would leave early, taking the pots and pans with her. i suspected she was stealing the shoes and leaving the building with the stolen shoes inside the pots and pans. security never checked her, since she was a long time employee. i secured a search warrant for her home. stolen shoes were located everywhere inside her home. even her garage contained stolen shoes that were on display on shelves and a price tag on each. i arrested this woman and the shoes recovered. she was age 84 and gave a full confession. here was the problem: her employer did not want her to go to prision. instead, she lost her pension and medical coverage. just because of her older age, should this woman have gone to prison or was her punishment sever enough? total value of shoes recoverd was about $120,000 dollars.
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
11 Answers
I bet losing the shoes was a great punishment and losing her pension probably put her below poverty line. No medical coverage @ age 84??
My first reaction is to say…the law is the law. No matter what age you are. But at 84, what purpose would it gain to put her in prison?
Just curious, but… what kind of probable cause did you have for the search warrant at the home? You never said that Plant Security caught her with the shoes as she left the plant.
I left out that part because the question was too long. i knew i could answer it here. after observing this woman leave the factory, we set surveillance on her 24/7. we had heard that she was selling the stolen shoes out of her station wagen at a VFW Club on Saturday mornings. we video taped her selling the stolen shoes at such a location and purchased a pair of the stolen shoes as evidence and to establish probable cause.
Arrest her, maybe, but I think that jail is a bit much. That’s up to the judge, or would be if the employer decided not to press charges. I believe that the elderly ought to be treated more gently, and I don’t think that there’s any good in arresting the very young.
At 84, she’s not going to “learn” from the experience, I don’t think.
On the other hand, I think arresting a young thief might do some good. Don’t jail them or throw the proverbial book – just have them go through the experience of the cop car, fingerprints, etc. It might scare them crapless, and hopefully they won’t steal again. It could change their life.
Clearly, officers of the law often have better things to do than turning 14-year-olds straight, but if they happen to have a slow day from solving crimes, it might not be a bad idea.
Suppose a child age 10, shot and killed your child or another family member? would this childs age have a bearing on being prosecuted? crime is committed at both ends of the age spectrum and i was just wondering if both young and older ages should be considered leniency in court? should this make a difference?
I think if you are that young (I don’t know USA’s but…)
if you are that young you have some seriouse issues should go to jail for 7 years and have some major counselling and maybe put in a psychward.
But before that I think the family caring for the child who commited the crime should be looked at very closely because adults have a huge influence on the way children veiw themselves and the world around them and it is very easy for an adult to influence a child to do something the child even knows is wrong. But what do I know. I’m only 15 = \
My husband’s brother was 16 when he shot and killed their father. He was in jail for about a decade. I gotta say, he was influenced by other people (his peers at school who got him into drugs, and money for drugs was the motive in the murder), but it was his own finger and no one else’s that pulled the trigger that day.
Even if he had been ten years old, I think he should have been detained, if the murder was not an accident. I think that one who is detained so young runs the risk of not forming mentally as he ought, but surely there is some way to take that into account.
A criminal is a criminal. There should not be exceptions because of age.
Answer this question 
Composing members:
0
