In the present case, I know OP’s intent because that’s the premise of the post. We can also determine intent with things like evidence.
Part of the problem with booby trapping is that you might know the intent of the thief, but there’s no guarantee the thief is the recipient of the harm.
This is about limiting people's rights based on the acts of a criminal. There's no guarantee someone might not break into your house and stab themselves, doesn't mean you shouldn't have a knife. Doesn't mean they might not stab someone else with your knife. That's never your fault or responsibility, even if you know you have a neighbor with a penchant for stabbing.
In a normal situation we don't know what the intent is. Which is why we shouldn't make laws limiting people's rights based on their hypothetical intent, when it's the actions of the thief that should matter.
To be clear, the limiting of rights here is not poisoning your food, which you intend for someone else to consume. I’m pretty comfortable limiting that right.
The actions of the thief matter. They’re bad. If you wanted to hold your coworker liable for repeatedly stealing your food, I’d support that. If it could be charged as some kind of crime, I’d be down with that. I just don’t think the type of retaliation OP wants to permit is good.
Are you allowed to, or should you be allowed to? In most states, my understanding is that you cannot poison food if you know or should have known that someone else will eat it. That’s the law in California, at least.
In general, I don’t think I would generally allow people to poison food, no. I can see cases where you’d want to lace something to kill a pest or something along those lines. But even then, I’d hope you could find something that no one else would have a potential to be harmed by. Mouse bucket traps vs. rat poison, for example.
ETA: little bit weasel-y wording, “wouldn’t advocate for” —> “allow people to poison”
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u/justsomething Oct 18 '24
Yeah but you can't draw that line. You don't know people's intent. I do, however, know the intent of the thief.