[Aytumious]

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<font color="red"> If the situation was indeed going to lead to death I would feel completely justified in stealing to feed my family. </font>

I'm not saying it's wrong, but I just want to be clear.

So if these three conditions were met:
1. Loss of job.
2. Insufficient money to tide you over until you found another one.
3. A family to support.

You are saying that you would resort to a life of crime as long as necessary? Now let me ask you this...

How "well" would your family have to be fed? Would gaunt and barely alive suffice for your children? Or is there a certain level of satiation that you would prefer?

I'm not trying to be difficult. I'll bet you're a pretty upstanding guy. I find it interesting that if just 3 conditions were met you would turn into a criminal. I'm trying to find out if you could ever feel your family was entitled to ever do more than just eat. Could your children ever be entitled to nice clothes, nice shcools, etc.? Once you've tasted crime, might you not steal more to provide your family with other things? Could this ever extend to the rationale that you're wife deserved a bigger diamond, etc?

I'm being silly of course, but it does provide some insight into how criminals can rationalize stealing and become progressive in crime.

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I understand your line of questioning. I would basically have to be convinced that if I did not steal and that there were somehow no other available options, someone in my family would die. If the choice is steal or death, I steal, though just enough to feed my family or somehow put myself into a position where the situation were not so dire.

I really don't think the line between me living comfortably playing poker and me stealing to feed my family is that wide, and therefore I try to work hard to ensure I never have to cross that line.

It is quite easy to see how people end up in situations -- like crime or drug addiction -- when they previously saw themselves as one of the "good" who would never do such a thing; I try not to have such illusions.