Is stealing always a crime?

I talked to my family in Nicaragua this weekend and the topic of how they were punishing Luis Emilio when he takes food he was not suppose to eat came up. Because he is still a toddler we haven’t had to face the legal problems young people with PWS can have when they steal food. It is heartbreaking to read stories like: “An eleven-year-old girl is arrested for stealing food from her neighbor’s freezer”.  We know that people with PWS always feel hungry. Anyone who felt like they were starving to death would also have a hard time controlling the urge to steal something to eat. Is punishing Luis Emilio going to make any difference in his behavior?

In a quick Google search today I found a few case studies on the effects of behavior therapy in food stealing in patients with PWS.  One study “ found that verbal reprimands, delivered contingent upon eating prohibited foods, were sufficient to decrease the food stealing of a girl with Prader-Willi syndrome.”¹ This was in a supervised environment in a hospital. We really can’t say this will make any difference in the real world, or that it will help other people with PWS.

If we look at how scientific evidence is categorize based on the quality of its source, case reports are at the bottom of the list. They are still important. Based on this report, a larger study can be proposed. If behavior therapy really works we can replicate the findings in different studies and in different populations.

In the mean time, should the laws be different for people with PWS? Is stealing always a crime?

Reference:

1. Maglieri KA, DeLeon IG, Rodriguez-Catter V, Sevin BM. Treatment of covert food stealing in an individual with Prader-Willi syndrome. J Appl Behav Anal. 2000 Winter;33(4):615-8. PubMed PMID: 11214035; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1284283.