Honor Among Thieves

Trying the contractor theft case

Most of the laity, when asking me about my job, believe that my hardest cases will fall into one of two categories: murders/homicides or sexual offenses against children. They are usually shocked when I say “no.”

First, most murders happen within some sort of explicable, even if not necessarily justified, framework. We understand why the jealous wife shoots her husband’s mistress upon finding them in flagrante together, even if we still (morally and legally) condemn the act.

Second, although universal moral disgust at those who sexually prey upon children exists, there also exists a scientific and therapeutic community that, while maintaining such disapproval, combine it with compassion and an effort toward harm reduction that makes trying such cases bearable.

No, there is only one type of case which tests the soul to try, and that is theft.