Thief gets off lightly

A man who was claiming disability in the United Kingdom was caught on tape doing the jitterbug. It was soon discovered that he had fraudulently received nearly 20 000 pounds from the UK government. This man was punished with 120 hours of community service.

120 hours of work for 20 000 pounds is pretty good money. That is around 167 pounds per hour. I can only hope that I will one day get a job that pays that well.

Seriously, if you are going to punish someone, the punishment has to be worse than the gain that was made by the doing wrong. As far as I can see this man is still ahead. 120 hours of community service is not likely to deter someone from stealing 20 000 pounds.

*update*

It was pointed out to me that I missed a sentence at the end of the article that said the man was paying back the money.

It still not enough. The risk of stealing from a government program is very low if all you have to do is give the money back and spend 120 hours picking up garbage at the side of the road. That is about what I would expect from a case of a 15 year old stealing a $20 shirt.