Tuesday, 5 February 2013

Does she deserves to go to prison?

Emilia is a young mother of Valencia. She had a desperate economic situation, with 22 and two girls aged 2 and 6 years she found a wallet with a credit card and ID. She went to two supermarkets and bought diapers and food worth about 200 euros. She did it because she needed to feed her children and she didn't have money. That was five years ago. Now she was sentenced to prison 1 year and 10 months. After a lot of social support she was pardoned.

I think that some people have been pardoned from worst things and she did it because she was needed so I support her. 

Do you think she had to go to prison?

http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/1718104/0/emilia-soria/carcel/requena/

10 comments:

  1. This particular case appeared in the news this weekend and the fact that it has caused so much debate is what particularly stroke me. Without hesitation I defend Emilia and I still cannot understand why so much importance has been given to the case as I consider it a little crime. I consider that has come up these days as a distractor of what is really happening in what concerns to our country’s politicians. Moreover, allow me to say that if that was the media’s intention what they have actually achieved is to give even more evidence of the contrast between little crimes like Emilia’s and our politicians’ acts.

    I’m not saying that what she did was right but there are so many people who have robbed and embezzled that Emilia’s case pales in comparison. Not only did she return the wallet after spending some money but also the amount she destined to buying nappies and food for her children was no more than 270 euros. From my point of view, creating such a fuss for this quantity of money is almost ridiculous when seeing all the millions that our politicians are hiding. Furthermore, because she acted almost instinctively I support her as I understand the critic and dramatic situation she must have seen herself in and I think that as a mother I might have acted similarly.

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  2. Gemma, Marina I agree with you to a certain degree. From one point of few, I’m totally in the same side of you. The poor Emilia has two children and she didn’t have enough money to eat. She only steeled the money to survive, not to do other things like politics do, like Marina remarked before. I probably had done the same as Emilia did, is an extreme situation. But on the other part of the coin, stealing is considered a crime. And if you found a wallet with the ID the normal thing is to return it to the correspondent person. It has been clear demonstrate that she isn’t a responsible woman at all. She has a 6 years old daughter when she only has 22, so she was pregnant with 16. And knowing that she hasn’t got lots of money she has another children. She maybe only did it to survive, but if it’s a crime, is a crime, in spite of if she does it in an extreme situation. In conclusion I can only add that this story have two totally different parts. Some people will be with her and understand her situation. But other people will not understand it at all; in fact they will see it unmoral, because it also incites other people in the same situation to do the same. And if we all do the same, this will end as a revolution.

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  3. What Emilia did is perfectly understandable, there’s no denying that. But however praiseworthy her actions were, what she did was spoofing and usurpation, and this, is a crime (Article 41 of the Spanish Penal Code). I totally agree with both of you about her acts being minor, however this should certainly not spare her from going to prison. Moreover, the sentence is low, in accordance with her small actions.

    Furthermore, I feel morally obliged to to express my dissatisfaction with Marina’s arguments. According to you, because some politicians are corrupt she shouldn’t go to prison, since, in comparison to them, it is a trifling action. For the same reason, pickpocketing should not be punished on the grounds that the “value” of what they steal is small… Sorry to say this but never have I heard such illogical arguments.

    Moreover, in Spain, if it is the first time you commit a crime and the sentence is less than two years you do not go to prison, that is to say Emilia had criminal records. Therefore she has already been given a “second chance”.

    The conclusion that can be drawn from this case is that you have to think it twice before committing a crime, no matter how trivial you think your actions are. Because the world we live in there is something called “laws”, and they have to be obeyed. Were someone to break the law, he/her has to go to prison without hesitation.

    So, although I understand your position you have to remember that if you make your bed you have to lie in it.

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  4. Baring in mind the situation now a days. I think this woman shouldn’t go to prison because she haven’t stolen anything from anywhere, she found it on a public street floor. Having the problems the society is coming through, people should be more worried about another type of problems, that cause much more damage to society.

    If you are aware that you have lost your wallet, you just have to block your credit card so that anyone can have access to it. However, this woman has uniquely spend this money on things for his children as she was seriously economically empty. The most impacting part is, that even having enough money she didn’t spend any euro on herself.

    We all know, that she hasn’t done what she should, but even knowing that it wasn’t a very good option to take, when anyone has this type of crisis, if you get yourself into situation you’ll realise it would be something you would do, just to keep your children safe.

    Taking advantage with this news, we can see here a clear image of how the society is now a days, so much, that a woman has to take money away from a lost wallet.

    So, getting to a point here, as Gemma has remarked , I would really vote against her going to prison, knowing that there are worst people out there that should go before her.

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  5. Considering Emilia´s situation I strongly believe that she doesn´t deserve prison or any type of punishment for what she did as it wasn´t an act of evilness, but an act of desperation and survival.
    I find extremely unfair and sad that in Spain a woman who steals two hundred Euros to provide food and basic necessities to her kids is sentenced to go to prison whilst politicians have stolen thousands and millions from us for leisure and luxuries and justice just turns a blind eye and pretends nothing has happened.
    I think this case reflects the situation of corruption and injustice in Spain. Why someone who steals such a discrete amount of money is nearly sent to prison when there´s people out there who have stolen a lot more money? Well, simple answer. Power, those who have power can do whatever they like, steal whatever they want, because they know nobody will intervene in their way. But for those who are normal citizens, those are the ones who will be punished for every single crime they commit, whether they deserve it or not.
    In conclusion, I agree with all the bloggers when saying that she doesn´t deserve to go to prison as what she did was to save her children, she didn´t buy things for herself, but for her children, what shows that it is furthermore incongruous to send her to jail.

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  6. Taking in consideration Emilia’s situation what I think is that, although the thing that this young mother did, wasn’t correct, I support her because she did it for a very understandable reason, she needed to feed her children and she didn’t have any money. We don’t know a lot of her situation, but maybe this little family is having a very bad moments, a woman doesn’t steel money and buys food if she really doesn’t need it. Having children and satisfying all their needs is not an easy thing. If she had spent the stolen money in other things, that weren’t needs I wouldn’t support her, because she would be buying stupid things with somebody else’s money, but in this case I think that most of the people will understand why she did what she did.

    Therefore, I think that we should know a little bit more about this case, because maybe she hasn’t got a husband and the situation we have nowadays is not the best, so I think, as I said at the beginning that although what she did wasn’t correct I support her, because of the situation in which she was.

    For all these reasons I strongly think, that Emilia doesn’t deserve to go to prison.

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  7. In my opinion, like Alex well said, what Emilia did was something completely understandable that most of us would have done if we were to be in a similar situation. It is when us humans are in situations of desperation that we turn to our instincts. And, being in a poor economic situation, hungry and with two children, what Emilia did was something which was logical. Spending the money on products that her and her family desperately needed might not have been the correct (or at least the best) thing to do; but being a mother and wanting the best for her children and her family, as well as needing the food in order to survive is something completely natural and therefore her actions are justified.

    Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that what she did was the right thing, since stealing is something which is against the law. And, obviously, committing a crime means getting some kind of punishment for it. But is an imprisonment of almost 2 years what she deserved? I personally don’t think so.

    In my opinion the judgment she was given was unfair, since her actions were somehow justified and, even if they weren’t, it’s not so much of a big deal. Like some of the comments pointed out, her actions were minor and her case shouldn’t have been taken so seriously. I completely agree with this. I personally think that the justice system in Spain is unfair and should definitely be modified, since there have been much more serious cases where the charged person has received a smaller and less severe judgment. Therefore, i think that she should receive some kind of punishment, but nothing as serious as being imprisoned for such a long time.

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  8. Gemma, I agree with you to a certain extent. As you’ve said, she was in a desperate situation, so, if you found a wallet with a credit card and had two young child’s which you can’t barely feed, what would you do?
    It’s a completely reasonable and logical decision. Everybody would do the same if you had no other choice.
    But, in fact, although it was for an ethical reason, using a fake identity to gain money is a crime which is punished by the Spanish constitution. But considering her situation, which wasn’t bad intentioned, she should be absolved.
    Thanks to public support, her sentence (1 year and 10 months) has been withdrawn.

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  9. Gemma, I totally agree with your statements until a certain point.
    It is true that she "had" to do it since she had no money to feed her daughters but the law is the law. Everyone is equal against it and it does not matter how seroius your crimes are, everyone pays it.
    From my point of view, I think I would have done the same, the worst that can happen to any mother is being unable to feed your daughters, I do not know what does it feel like, but I am pretty sure that is a feeling which you do not whish to anyone.
    Furthermore, I would like to highlight Alex's statement which says that she has already been pardoned and she has wasted her second chance, I do not want it to sound disrispectfull, but I thing that if it is her second time committing a crime, do not even caring about if it is low or not, she deserved a cell in prison.

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  10. This case has two clear sides: law and necessity.

    Firstly, focusing on law, an immediate question pops into my head leaving moral matters apart: why should you give a blind eye to this particular case treating her differently from many others who are now in jail?

    Secondly, focusing on moral, what Emilia did was clearly a survival need as she saw herself with no other option but to steal.

    So, having considered both sides, I have to say that this time I support law despite understanding why she committed this theft. As it has been mentioned before, she was given a ‘second chance’ as this wasn’t the first time she saw herself in this kind of trouble. So, why did she do this again? Necessity? Probably yes. But law isn’t something which is applicable to only some and pardoned to others, it is a series of statements aimed for a community good which every single citizen has to carry out. If we mixed moral matters here, prisons would be almost empty as many would defend themselves with the statement that it was a ‘necessity’ for them.

    So, summing up, law has to be applied equally focusing on ‘what’ they’ve done and not ‘why’ they did it.

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