Theft

 

Keep Your Eye On The Sparrow

Don’t do the crime
If you can’t do the time
Yeah, don’t do it.

What is the time for stealing one penny from 100 million?

Stealing a $1,000,000 from an individual is grand theft, a felony.  Society and that individual both have a vested interest in catching the thief.  The penalties for grand theft and the risk of getting caught are supposed to be sufficient to negate any possible benefits of the theft.

Stealing $100 from 10,000 individuals is petty theft in each instance, a misdemeanor.  The total theft is still $1,000,000.  Society and the individuals have a less of an interest in catching the thief.  The penalties for petty theft and the risk of getting caught are lower for each crime, but cumulatively the risk of getting caught when there are 10,000 chances to get caught are much greater.  Consequently the penalties of 10,000 instances of petty thefts are supposed to negate the possible benefits of 10,000 petty thefts of $100.

Stealing a penny, $.01, from 100 million individuals is technically also petty theft.  The cumulative theft is still $1,000,000.  However society, and those individuals, have even less of an incentive to pursue the thief, and the chances of getting caught for a single theft this small are also small.  Logistically attempting theft on this scale, of 100 million individuals, before computers, was not feasible.  It is not clear that the penalties for this crime negate the benefits.

Logistically the law and society have not kept pace with the possibility of petty theft on a very, very small scale. Mathematically there should be no difference in stealing $1 million from one person or one penny from 100,000,000 persons.  What had once been logistically infeasible, is quite feasible today.  The law and society need to catch up and make the time fit the crime.