Theft may soon be punishable by fines
IGT/Asahi, Sept 5, 2005
In a bid to be more flexible when dealing with small-time crooks, the Justice Ministry intends to introduce fines as a penalty for theft, ministry officials said recently.
Under existing laws, theft is punishable only by imprisonment. Yet the crime covers a wide range of wrongs-from petty shoplifting to using heavy machinery to tear out ATMs and cart them off.
Sentences range from a month to 10 years.
In practice, this has led to minor thefts like shoplifting often going unpunished or resulting in suspended sentences.
Yet although imprisoning repeated shoplifters seems excessively harsh, letting them go seems equally lenient....more...
