Legal Issues

The paper would discuss three cases and would elaborate on their nature that whether those three cases are acts of crime or not. And if they are, then why they are so and what type of crimes they are.

As far as the first case is concerned, where Kino sees a DVD player on the porch of Lulus house, takes the player to his home, and tells everyone he owns it. This is a crime but it is of lower level because it doesnt involve any threat, harm, or violence. This sort of crime is usually done by children or by those who dont possess enough understanding and knowledge about the act that they are doing. This type of crime is known as Larceny. Obviously, it is a crime because Kino doesnt really owns the DVD player that he stole from Lulus place, but this sort of crime doesnt really force people to put the criminal in the jail or execute him or her. In other words, there is a misrepresentation being done by Kino which is an unlawful act.

Moving on the second scenario where, Maya, holding a knife, forces Nick to give her his boom box, and runs away with it. This is also a crime because it is done on the basis of coercion or compelling the other person. In this case, Maya has used the coercion with the help of knife to compel or force Nick to give her the boom box. The boom box is owned by Nick, and not Maya therefore, it is illegal or unlawful act to take it from him on the basis of coercion by putting knife over Nick and asking him to give her the boom box.

This type of crime is called Robbery or to be more precise, this specific crime is called Armed Robbery, where the offender takes other peoples property with the help of deadly weapons such as, knife, gun, etc. Maya has done armed robbery where she used knife as a weapon to forcefully take the belonging of Nick. As far as the penalties are concerned, this armed robbery is usually considered as greater than other simpler robberies therefore, it can lead to some serious or heavy penalties.

Finally, talking about the third case where, Ollie breaks into Pams apartment, takes a computer, and leaves. This is also a crime and this crime is called Burglary. Burglary is a type of crime that involves house breaking or intrusion. In this case, Ollie has entered or broke into Pams apartment in order to take a computer. After Ollie took the computer, she left the place therefore, what she did was unlawful and illegal. As far as the penalties are concerned, Ollie would be facing harsh penalties such as, imprisonment for a certain period of time along with the payment of high amount of money or fine.

Talking about the differences of these three cases, the first one is called Larceny which is the stealing and misrepresentation of the ownership of ones property. Second case is the serious one where an individual illegally or forcefully  usually with the help of any weapon  takes the thing from other person that he himself doesnt own. And finally, the third case is called Burglary, which involves the intrusion or trespassing into ones house, stealing the things or harming someone, and run away from there.