Evaluating the argument

What Should We Criminalize: Moral Wrongs? Evaluate and discuss the argument presented in this video.

Consider this hypothetical scenario:

Excited about the design and features of the newest cell phone that she keeps seeing online, Kathy is crestfallen when she learns how much it costs. After hours of searching for discounts and coupons, Kathy realizes that even the cheapest price she's found is well beyond what she can afford. Undeterred, Kathy comes up with an idea for how to get the phone. Unfortunately, this plan involves her committing a crime. But, although this fact makes her feel a little guilty, it doesn't stop her from doing what she must do to own this phone of her dreams.

Below, in chronological order, is the sequence of steps by which Kathy goes from realizing that the phone is definitely beyond her budget to illegally acquiring it.

Which step in this storyline marks the point at which Kathy's behavior goes from legal to illegal? In other words, at which point in the sequence does Kathy first do something that should be counted as a crime -- even if she is then unable to carry out the rest of her plan?

After concluding that she can't get the phone through legal means, Kathy starts fantasizing about stealing something that she can sell to get the money she needs for the phone.
Kathy starts taking note of all the valuable things in her parents' home, thinking about which ones would be valuable enough and easy enough to steal.
Kathy makes a plan to sneak into her mom’s jewelry box and steal a necklace that’s worth a lot of money but that her mom rarely wears.
Kathy executes the plan, taking the necklace and hiding it in a pocket of her bag, until she can figure out where to sell it.
Kathy finds a pawn shop, goes up to the counter, and pulls out the necklace for the owner to assess its value.
When the pawn shop owner offers an amount high enough for Kathy to afford the new phone, Kathy agrees and sells him the necklace.
Kathy uses the money from the sold necklace to buy the new phone.
When she gets home, Kathy excitedly rips open the package, sets up the phone, and starts using it.

Discuss this question with a friend! Compare answers, and think together openly yet critically about where the line between legal and illegal behavior should be drawn, and why. Is this also where you would draw the line between ethically acceptable and ethically wrong behavior?

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