Sorority Sisters Steal Baby Jesus

[KDCat]

They didn't really steal the Nativity. They moved it from the town square to the front lawn of the President's house. The house is on a main drag. It's not like there was a chance that it would go unnoticed.

MC has a history of pranks. This one ranks up there with the Holiday Inn sign. (When a new dorm was being opened, students obtained a Holiday Inn sign and erected it in front of the new dorm on the night before the ribbon cutting.) Another MC prank was when the students removed the seats in the chapel/auditorium and put them in backwards. They're all bolted to the floor. It took maintenance crews days to fix it and the students did it in just one night.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by KDCat

They didn't really steal the Nativity. They moved it from the town square to the front lawn of the President's house. The house is on a main drag. It's not like there was a chance that it would go unnoticed.

They were charged with theft. The basic definition of theft is taking the property of another without the owner's freely given consent. They didn't own the nativity scene. They took it without permission. The fact that they then left it where it could be found doesn't change the fact that they took it without the owner's consent. So yes -- they stole it.

[KDCat]

Actually, it's not. Misdemeanor theft in Illinois requires an intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property. They clearly didn't intend to deprive the city of the Nativity scene permanently. If they were my kids, I would hire a lawyer and seek to have the charges dismissed.

I think the Warren County State's Attorney and the city council lack a sense of humor. The students shouldn't have been charged with theft. Disturbing the peace, maybe.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by KDCat

Actually, it's not. Misdemeanor theft in Illinois requires an intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property. They clearly didn't intend to deprive the city of the Nativity scene permanently. If they were my kids, I would hire a lawyer and seek to have the charges dismissed.

I think the Warren County State's Attorney and the city council lack a sense of humor. The students shouldn't have been charged with theft. Disturbing the peace, maybe.

I'll readily admit I'm not familiar with specifics of Illinois law; I was going with the basic, generic definition of "theft."

I'll also readily admit I don't have lots sympathy for these students if the pranks you describe are common. I have quite a well-developed sense of humor and have pulled more than my share of pranks in my time. If this were an isolated thing, then maybe it's no big deal. But when the pranks end up requiring maintenance crews to waste time (and money) undoing the prank, then I think my sense of humor about the pranks in general would have given out.

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by KDCat

Actually, it's not. Misdemeanor theft in Illinois requires an intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property.

I know that there are crazy things on the books in many (probably all) states, but this seems like a terrible definition for Illinois to embrace. Intent to permanently deprive the owner of property? C'mon. I can hear the conversation now:

Police officer to person charged with theft: So, you stole that diamond necklace?
Thief to officer: Well, I didn't really steal it. I was going to put it back after this weekend's Christmas party.
Officer: Oh, well that's ok, then. As long as you didn't intend to keep the necklace forever.
Thief: Oh no. I wouldn't do anything like that. I just borrowed it. Without asking. I didn't steal it. Really.

If there really is a tradition of pranks at this institution, they (the school, law enforcement, who knows) might very well want to make an example of these young ladies to try to reduce the number of said pranks. I can't say I blame them - especially if I were the president of the institution and was charged with keeping the peace between the community and the college. You don't want to piss off the folks who run the town your school is in.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

I know that there are crazy things on the books in many (probably all) states, but this seems like a terrible definition for Illinois to embrace. Intent to permanently deprive the owner of property? C'mon. I can hear the conversation now:

Police officer to person charged with theft: So, you stole that diamond necklace?
Thief to officer: Well, I didn't really steal it. I was going to put it back after this weekend's Christmas party.
Officer: Oh, well that's ok, then. As long as you didn't intend to keep the necklace forever.
Thief: Oh no. I wouldn't do anything like that. I just borrowed it. Without asking. I didn't steal it. Really.

Lack of intent is a defense to theft in most jurisdictions. It's up to the trier of fact to decide whether the person is telling the truth or lying. In this case, they left Baby Jesus and the rest of the Nativity in plain sight on the front lawn of the school president's house. It's pretty obvious that they don't have intent here. They didn't have the things in their possession when they were discovered, unlike your thief.

If there really is a tradition of pranks at this institution, they (the school, law enforcement, who knows) might very well want to make an example of these young ladies to try to reduce the number of said pranks. I can't say I blame them - especially if I were the president of the institution and was charged with keeping the peace between the community and the college. You don't want to piss off the folks who run the town your school is in.

I completely agree with this. It's bad form to mess with stuff that the town owns. It won't hurt them to pay a fine or spend a few Saturdays picking up trash or cleaning the courthouse. It will make the town happy. A misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace seems very fair. On the other hand, it's a bit much to charge them with theft, which will negatively effect their applications to professional licenses and professional school is a bit much.

And this seems like a repeat of when a fraternity which shall remain nameless removed a statue of a Greek god from the president's garden and boosted it through a window(without breaking the window) into his office for Greek Week, except these ladies messed with something that belonged to the town, rather than something that belonged to the school. It's really part of MC's culture (less so than MIT's culture, but still there), but people need to learn to leave the townies alone.