Capital Crimes?

As we are likely all aware, there are very different levels of crimes that individuals and even groups of individuals commit against other individuals or groups. These crimes certainly vary in their methods, purposes and harm caused to the victim(s). The term “Capital Crime” refers to those crimes that result in capital punishment or the death penalty.

Expanding on Property Crimes

In other countries “Capital Crimes” may include a number of definitions but in America only crimes such as “first degree murder” and, in wartime, “high treason”, are at all likely to fall into that category and, likely in the vast majority of cases, that is as it should be. Theft of property, unless such theft results in the death of the individual and it can be proven that to have been the intent of the person committing the crime (such as stealing a desperately ill person’s absolutely necessary medication) is not likely to be considered a capital crime, and rightly so.

However, it is the author’s intent to expand the reader’s consideration of what the results of various crimes against our fellow citizens might be, in the long term. The major group of crimes against individuals being considered here, are what are generally referred to as “property crimes” where the victim loses something that he or she legally owns to a criminal who has taken such. The point being made is that such “property crimes” actually result in the victim losing, to an extent, some portion of his or her past life as a result.

Say, for example, that you are the victim of the theft of your car. Say, also, that your car was fully insured and your insurer replaces the vehicle to your satisfaction. What then, other than the aggravation of having to file your claim and wait to be paid, did you lose? 

The criminal who stole your car, actually stole a part of your life

Never mind the fact that insurance payments rarely cover all of the expenses that you incurred during the recovery. 

Pretend, for the moment, that you are 100% satisfied. You still suffered a loss, and actually the loss of part of your life as you had to spend a portion of said life earning the money that you spent buying theft insurance in the first place.

If no one stole cars, there would be no need for theft insurance and that portion of your life would not have been consumed as it actually was. Consider, if you will, the simple fact that the criminal who stole your car, actually stole a part of your life. Now, does this mean that car theft should be considered as a “Capital Crime” and treated as such? Not now, nor ever, but the loss you experienced was quite real.

The point that the author is making is that virtually ALL crimes against our fellow citizens need to be looked at far more seriously than they currently are and not “swept under the rug” as they often are, particularly in our States where the government tends to “lean toward the Left”. It is very important to remember that incarceration for a crime is not just a punishment for the criminal’s action(s), it also significantly limits his (or her) ability to commit more crimes while imprisoned.