what is the right thing to do?

Question

I found some money in with some litter at the edge of the street. No way to tell how long it was there.

If it was just some coins, no one would think it was stealing to pick it up and keep it.

If it was thousands of dollars an Honast man would turn it in for the owner to claim it.

How much would it have to be before it becomes stealing to just take it?

What's the cut off?
$10?
$20?
$50?
$100?

Answer 1

Any amount would be "stealing" or larceny. Since it doesn't belong to you, picking it up and taking it away would be larceny.

The cutoff is the difference between a misdemeanor (petit theft) and a felony (grand larceny).

Answer 2

When it is stealing? It becomes stealing when:

a) it is an amount a reasonable person would miss and search for.

Pocketing a lesser amount (such as a dime) that the average person would NOT be scouring the streets to find is not stealing.

Why?

Because if the amount is so small that a reasonable person would NOT be looking for it, then that is because the person chooses to relinquish their claim on the money rather than expend the resources to find it.

The dime has essentially been abandoned.

OR

b) The sum is not huge, but not insignificant and you have a reasonable way to find the owner.

For examples, on a rainy, windy day you find a $10 bill in a pile of litter at the edge of a mall parking lot. The bill is wet and has been out of someone's pocket for quite some time.

There is no reasonable way to locate the owner.

If, however, a $10 bill blows onto your feet a moment after watching a harried young mother re-packing the purse her kid dumped on the ground outside the grocery store, I would say ask the woman if she lost $10.

Answer 3

If it is substantial, then you report it to authorities. You don't say if it was near a business, school, university, etc. or just in a residential area. If it is just pocket change or a few dollars, most likely you'll not find the owner. If it is $10, $20, or more (especially if it's in the hundreds) and you can reasonably find the owner through an ad or bulletin board because you suspect where it came from locally, then do so. All the person has to do is identify the amount to claim it. Any unclaimed money after a period of time would be yours, even with the police station. In other words, the right thing to do is try to locate the owner in any realistic way and if there are no results, keep it with a clear conscience.

Answer 4

It would be difficult to return a few coins to someone without any identification. We are talking about loose change like pennies,nickel, dimes quarters. We are not talking about "gold coins" or "rare coins". I would keep them former , but of I found coins that were worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, I would turn them in to the Police. If after a certain number of months no one claimed them, The Police would give them back to me. Clear conscience on both counts.

Answer 5

Stealing in my eyes is when there is a wallet, and in there you take the person's money who you fully know who it belongs to. Especially when you look at their address and realize they are living in the slums. That money very well could be all they have.. so if there is a wallet and an address return it.. if nothing and no proof of who it goes to.. all it'll do is sit in the lost and found and someone will wrongfully take it. If not a proof of who it belongs to.. then losers weepers finders keepers.

Answer 6

Turn it in to whom, and what do think they're going to do with it, exactly?

Imagine this: You find $100 in the grocery store at 11pm. You turn it in to the manager, who puts it in an envelope in the safe, and goes off duty. At 8am, the one that lost it comes back and asks the manager on duty about it, who knows nothing and says so. A week later that envelope is still there. You come back asking about it, and yet a third manager is on duty then, who says he doesn't know anything about it. You then come back a few days later and find the original manager, who checks the safe and the envelope is gone, and doesn't know where it went.

Feel good about that?

Answer 7

I don't think people get their shorts in a twist over coins...a few hundred dollars, you should probably take it to the police station...if a person is missing money I'd imagine they'd have to tell them how much was lost.

But that's a good question.

Answer 8

may be no one steal them, may be i kid put them there.

kids do lots of crazy things. lol