Why Is Abbott Stealing Wrong

Abbott acted both unethically and illegally when he attempted to steal meat from the local corner store. 1“Theft is the act of stealing; specifically: the felonious taking and the removing of the personal property with intent to deprive the rightful owner of it.” Theft is seen to be morally wrong because you are stealing from another person. In society, the ethical thing to do is to pay for the items you are able to take home from the store. Also, illegal because all items have an exchange value either it be goods for goods or goods for money, as it has the knowledge of the owner and a binding contract, that you are now the new owner of the item. Therefore, since Abbott did not pay for the meat he was about to steal from the store, he did not rightfully have a contract which states he owns the meat. Which can cause him to either pay a fine or do jail time under these circumstances. Also, if Abbott was caught, his friend would not be held liable for his actions and all legal blame would do towards Abbott. Ethically, Abbott should have known what his friends were teaching him to do was unethical even if he did not have the money to buy the meat products.

Abbott was paying for everything but the meat which he claimed he should be getting for a discounted amount for self-checkout when he was caught. His excuse after being caught was that since he was bagging his own groceries and doing labor for his own items, he therefore was deserving of a discount. Although, in reality, he made a subconscious decision to purposefully choose the self-checkout counter due to his friends’ persuasion about shoplifting and the different methods to do so. Therefore, Abbott’s explanation, is invalid and he should pay full price for the