Business Law

There are three similar scenarios for review presented. The first scenario involves a nonviolent crime of a woman; Sarah, who sees a laptop unattended, belonging to Makoto, takes it, claiming that it is her property. The second scenario is a violent crime involving Sarah holding Makoto at gunpoint to obtain the laptop. Lastly, the third scenario involves a nonviolent crime with Sarah breaking into Makoto's home to obtain his laptop.

Scenario number one involves Sarah seeing a laptop unattended, her taking the computer, and claiming that the computer is her property. In this scenario, Sarah has committed larceny which is theft or stealing. According to the authors of Fundamentals of business law part I, larceny is defined as "the unlawful taking and carrying away of someone else's personal property with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of possession" (Miller & Jentz, 2008, p. 128). The crime is quite clear and fitting to the definition. Sarah stole Makoto's laptop with the intent to permanently deprive him of the property when claiming that it was hers.

The second scenario involves violence to obtain the laptop. Sarah holds Makoto at gunpoint to force Makoto to turn over his laptop to her. This is using the threat of violence to deprive Makoto of his laptop. Robbery is a violent crime and can be defined as "the taking of cash, personal property, or any other article of value from a person by means of force or fear" (Miller & Jentz, 2008, p. 127). Sarah can be found of committed aggravated robbery in this scenario because she uses a deadly weapon to deprive Makoto of his property.

In the third scenario Sarah has committed burglary. Sarah sees Makoto's laptop in is house and decides to break into his house to obtain the laptop. Burglary is defined as "the unlawful entry or breaking into a building with the intent to commit a felony" (Miller & Jentz, 2008, p. 128). In this situation, Sarah is the criminal and she breaks into Makoto's house by breaking the lock on his front door. Makoto has not given her permission to enter his house. With intention of committing a crime, Sarah then deprives Makoto permanently of his laptop.

The three crimes that are committed are all property crimes. Larceny and burglary were non-violent but aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon is a violent crime. There are also differences involved in the scenarios. In scenario number one, larceny takes place with Sarah breaking into a building with no intent to use force to deprive Makoto of his property. Scenario two involves the threat of force with a gun to deprive Makoto of his property. Lastly, in the scenario of burglary, Sarah broke into Makoto's home with the intent to commit theft.

References

Miller, R. L., &