Since the penalty for cattle rustling was lynching, shouldn't car thieves face the same penalty today?

Question

Why or why not?

Answer 1

Looks like a bunch of car thieves have been reading the politics section, judging from those answers above.

Here in Texas, if you observe someone on your property stealing anything valuable from your residence, you may shoot to kill and not be prosecuted. That's fair.

I think if car thieves were treated more severely, the rate of car theft would go down. To me, that is desirable. Simple.

Answer 2

The penalty for cattle rustling was not lynching. Lynching is an unlawful death usually by hanging. Still the penalty for rustling was not death universally. The reason the standard penalty for horse theft was hanging was because a man provided for himself and his family with that horse. A man could die without his horse to transport him from point A to point B. A horse was all important. A car is not that important but having your indentity stolen... there could be a case for hanging.

Answer 3

OK some people say a horse was important back in the day and a car is not...What if it was a car used by somebody who had to get to work. That was their only means of transportation and they couldn't afford to get another car or buy theft insurance? How many people could call their boss up and say.."hey boss I cant come to work for next few days cause my car got stolen?" Another example...Did anyone seethe video where that old man got beat down by that guy who then stole his car? If any scumbag deserves the needle it was that guy.

Answer 4

Car thieves should just pay for the parts of the car they have damaged and whatever damage they have caused, and spend some few nights in jail...shouldnt be that serious of an offense unless its a federal vehicle or a vehicle full of important crap and people in it(hostage crisis lol). Hopefully, people wont abuse this system like they abuse other lawsuits just for personal gain -.- Make it worth not so much as to discourage abuse(u think u cant abuse this but people can be clever, remember the thumb incident at wendy's?) I hear in europe the person attempting to have the lawsuit gets the opposite treatment than here in america, get run over by a car and its the victims fault and they get lawsuited against lol(God's payment for the victims stupidity)

Answer 5

is cattle supposed to be like a car? that's a poor analogy. now if maybe you had said cars and horses... i would have understood that. i say cattle rustling and car thieving are so unrelated that they should not have the same penalty. like you don't have the same penalties for murder and accounting fraud.

Answer 6

No. Think of it this way considering stealing a car already makes you a dead man wouldn't that entice you to get more bang for your buck or in other words at least not be killed for just stealing a corvette, maybe try and kill a few people while you are at it. Sometimes over punishing will make the situation worse, than preventing the crime.

Answer 7

Nope. Different time, different place. I would like to think we're past that point now and have advanced as a civilization but given the state of things, I have to question that. People still react in knee-jerk, emotional fashion and don't think things through. They just make outrageous statements and don't worry about the consequences.

Answer 8

Lets give them a fair trial before we hang them

Answer 9

you mean a horse thief don't you? and it is still punishable by death in some states. the law has never been removed from the books.

in those days a man's horse was more valuable than his wife.

Answer 10

Sure. I like your style, getting tough on property crime. I advocate decades plus long prison sentences for gangbangers who spray their graffiti and destroy property. I would also advocate a law making it legal to shoot them on sight.