Ethical question, stealing from a theif
 

Hypothetically speaking,

Assume for whatever reason you live with a untrustworthy roommate. One day you come to find out he was fired from his job but he does not tell you why.

Now assume one day he leaves town for a few days and you have to get something out of his room that he borrowed, you enter his room and on the floor you see a open bag filled with all different kinds of bills and change, unsorted.

Regardless of how you know, let's just say without a doubt you know that this money is stolen from his work and he must have been fired for the missing money.

The way the money is scattered you also know without a doubt that he has no idea how much money is really in the bag and wouldn't notice if some of it was missing. You have an estimate of anywhere from $2000-$2500 in the bag.

Let's say you have an evening out planned with your friends that night but are going to have to go to the ATM later. There is a hundred dollar bill sitting on top of the stack you could take and he would never notice. What do you do?

In order to keep this an ethical question, let's assume the roommate is free and clear of any legal issues that may arise from the stolen money. Does the situation change if you know he will be moving out of the room shortly so you will never have to see him again?

Re: Ethical question, stealing from a theif
 

You are effectively restealing from his former employer, who still is out that money. So the ethical thing to do is either leave it alone or rat him out, not try to justify taking the ill-gotten gains he currently possesses. However if you do hypocritically justify it to yourself to take a Franklin, then you might as well just take it all for the poetic "justice" of it.

Re: Ethical question, stealing from a theif
 

Exactly why does who you steal from make it less stealing?

Re: Ethical question, stealing from a theif
 

If hes a nice guy I'd leave him alone. Otherwise, I'm stealin some of this thief's money. Thats just me.

Re: Ethical question, stealing from a theif
 

What if, instead of stolen money, it was money he got by selling crack to the kids at the local junior high school? Same reaction? Different?

Re: Ethical question, stealing from a theif
 

[ QUOTE ]
You are effectively restealing from his former employer, who still is out that money. So the ethical thing to do is either leave it alone or rat him out, not try to justify taking the ill-gotten gains he currently possesses. However if you do hypocritically justify it to yourself to take a Franklin, then you might as well just take it all for the poetic "justice" of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

If he were not legally free of the crime then I think you have just become an accessory after the fact unless you do something. The only way I can think of where he could be legally free is if he had been tried for the crime and aquited. In which case, you do not enjoy his immunity from double jepardy and I think could still be considered an accessory after the fact. Just on a legal basis you could be justified in returning the money to his former place of work. If he is legally immune to charges you're not putting him in any legal danger by doing this. But it might hurt his reputation if his roommate is seen returning the cash. So you could just return it annonymously. Put it in a bus locker and send them the key with a note. This will free you of legal danger but not of his wrath. Ethically, I might just mind my own business. I wouldn't steal from him though.

PairTheBoard

Re: Ethical question, stealing from a theif
 

[ QUOTE ]

What if, instead of stolen money, it was money he got by selling crack to the kids at the local junior high school? Same reaction? Different?



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selling crack is hard work, so I might be less inclined to steal from him. According to freakonomics, crackdealers make less than minimum wage.

To answer the OP: I don't take the money, because we are roomates, and I would not violate my roomate's trust.

Re: Ethical question, stealing from a theif
 

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So the ethical thing to do is rat him out

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FYP. There's no or here.

Re: Ethical question, stealing from a theif
 

Assuming that 1 - he is not a particularly close friend, 2 - he really is genuinely completely free of all legal social and professional repercussions, and 3 - he didnt steal the money to pay the medical bills for his sick grandmother or some other such 'ethical' cause (in other words, his theft was motivated by amoral greed), then...

I'd take all the money.
Spend a franklin on a night out.
Give the rest to charity.

Re: Ethical question, stealing from a theif
 

You know who the money belongs to, and you know that they would object to you taking it. You are not "stealing from a thief" or any other such nonsense.

You are stealing and cannot justify it as okay. That being said, hope you have a good time hanging with the boys....