Originally Posted by
The One Who
Stealing is stealing and punishment should be the same regardless.
If people in this country knew how to cook properly they'd be able to make meals for pennies, ones that have a good nutritional value as well. Unfortunately that isn't the case.
This doesn't apply everywhere. I live in rural Scotland, a place where there is only one supermarket that I can go to for food. I do not have the luxury of shopping for deals in different places. It's that supermarket or none. Also, because it has such a monopoly here, as well as the "distance" it takes to bring goods here (this is vastly disputed within the general community) the price is almost 40% dearer than if I lived in the city (which is over a 3 hour drive away.)
Buying cheap food here is unbelievably hard, and my partner is a very good cook. We do not even have a food bank that we can go to. I would not be surprised if people where I live have had to resort to stealing purely to be able to eat and I would not blame them at all.
It disgusts me that people are left in that position. I have never stolen food as I have a very loving network of friends and family, but I do believe that without them I would have been left with theft or starvation as my only two options in some circumstances.
Not everywhere works on the same premise as London or big cities, sometimes people literally do not have any other options.