Who Is Responsible?

¶ … Ron should have locked his car doors. However, whoever took the new slacks he left in his car knew or should have known that it is wrong to steal, even if it is easy to do so. Ron should have the right to live his life without his property being stolen, and being careless (leaving the door unlocked) does not give someone else a right to take his things. While he should have been more careful, he really does not have any official responsibility for the theft.

The thief bears 100% of the responsibility for the theft of the slacks, since he (or she) made the conscious choice to steal something that did not belong to him (or her). Even if a person leaves something valuable just sitting out, no one should take that item (Wallace, 2004). One could argue that Ron should "know better" or that he was very careless in leaving his car door unlocked, but it is not realistic to believe that someone "deserves it" when something is stolen from that person. Stealing is wrong.

Bobby, at 12 years old, is old enough to be responsible and listen to his parents. He is also old enough to stay home alone safely. Taking money from his mother's drawer was definitely wrong, and he certainly knew he should not have taken the money. He also chose bad friends in Andy and Joey, because they beat him up. Joey and Andy, theoretically, know better than to beat someone up, and they know assault and stealing are wrong. By the age of 12, children know right from wrong (Dutton, 2006).

However, if Bobby would have stayed home like he was supposed to he would not have been in a position to get beat up by the other boys. In this case, Bobby has 50% of the blame for not staying home, and the other boys have 50% of the blame because it was wrong to beat up Bobby and take his money. 3. Unlike Ron in the first scenario, this is not an honest mistake you forgot about.

You knew the lock was broken and that you should get it fixed, but you failed to do so, for reasons unknown. As such, you left your home at risk when you could have taken steps to avoid that. However, even if you left all the doors and windows open, stealing your things is still wrong.

The burglar gets 75% of the blame for coming into your home uninvited and taking your things, but you hold 25% of the blame for knowing that you had a point of entry for a security breach and leaving for two weeks without doing anything about it. By leaving an unsecured entry point to a home, a person can put himself or herself at risk for burglary, assault, and other problems (Dutton, 2006). 4. Domestic violence is a serious problem in society (Dutton, 2006).

Tom should never have punched Julie, and could be charged with assault if Julie decided to press charges. However, it is impossible to place all the blame on Tom. Julie knew he had a bad temper when she started dating him, and she continued to date him for the last two months. She has to carry at least 10% of the blame because she knew he had a temper, but she may not have known exactly how bad it was.

Tom holds 90% of the blame because it is never acceptable to hit a person.