I agree he fucked up bad enough to get fired and for some kind of punitive fine, but 84k worth of pension (the entire pension, which is itself a problem) is entirely too much. It completely pulls the rug out of the rest of his life, which is also when he’ll be most vulnerable and least able to push through hardships. That pension is also too little to truly retire on, maybe the old man has been on survival mode for a long time. Maybe. I was once poor enough that 15 dollars’ worth of an unexpected expense caused enough anxiety to make me want to recalculate my budget that month. I was in college with a minimum wage job and doing everything I could to save a dollar and still only keeping my head above water, relying on sharing a room for rent. Would I have risked my job? Hell no. But would I have taken 7$ from somewhere if I felt I could truly get away with it and I was taking it from some large organization that is guaranteed to stay running from government? Maybe. It might mean a dinner I really needed to keep going. It would still weigh on my conscience, but your brain and sense of self can change when you’re that vulnerable for that long.
It took many years for me to undo some of the effects that has on your sympathetic system of the brain. Still probably fuels some things.
I could easily see how someone could become callous to such small thefts as a wrong deed and even somewhat justified if they felt a part of an unfair system. Which is arguable. There’s plenty of people who try to take advantage or take the opportunity to knock you down as less-than because of your financial situation when you are that poor. Life is different. The world in which you live is very different. I don’t know every detail, all I know is it’s not as easy to judge as someone who doesn’t have or hasn’t had those hardships.
Sorry to belabor the point, but it’s also worth pointing out that even from a more pragmatic standpoint, we know that overly punitive sentences result in more recidivism across different types of crime, especially if you’re exacerbating the reason they might’ve done it in the first place.
Still seems quite excessive
The punishment is 12,000x the crime.
There really should be a cap on this sort of thing.
But hey, I once got suspended in school for stealing 5 cents. I even admitted to quite openly.
Lies when stealing the money
Lies when asked to confess, likely so they could find a way to keep him on staff if he told the truth.
Sorry dude, honesty counts.
Not that much over 7 dollars, get fucked
Ya reckon it was the only $7 eh?
When imposing punishment, there is a burden of proof. So the punishment is for $7 theft until something substantiates otherwise.
I agree he fucked up bad enough to get fired and for some kind of punitive fine, but 84k worth of pension (the entire pension, which is itself a problem) is entirely too much. It completely pulls the rug out of the rest of his life, which is also when he’ll be most vulnerable and least able to push through hardships. That pension is also too little to truly retire on, maybe the old man has been on survival mode for a long time. Maybe. I was once poor enough that 15 dollars’ worth of an unexpected expense caused enough anxiety to make me want to recalculate my budget that month. I was in college with a minimum wage job and doing everything I could to save a dollar and still only keeping my head above water, relying on sharing a room for rent. Would I have risked my job? Hell no. But would I have taken 7$ from somewhere if I felt I could truly get away with it and I was taking it from some large organization that is guaranteed to stay running from government? Maybe. It might mean a dinner I really needed to keep going. It would still weigh on my conscience, but your brain and sense of self can change when you’re that vulnerable for that long.
It took many years for me to undo some of the effects that has on your sympathetic system of the brain. Still probably fuels some things.
I could easily see how someone could become callous to such small thefts as a wrong deed and even somewhat justified if they felt a part of an unfair system. Which is arguable. There’s plenty of people who try to take advantage or take the opportunity to knock you down as less-than because of your financial situation when you are that poor. Life is different. The world in which you live is very different. I don’t know every detail, all I know is it’s not as easy to judge as someone who doesn’t have or hasn’t had those hardships.
Sorry to belabor the point, but it’s also worth pointing out that even from a more pragmatic standpoint, we know that overly punitive sentences result in more recidivism across different types of crime, especially if you’re exacerbating the reason they might’ve done it in the first place.