# Ethics of Bank Robbery During Economic Depression **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 9, 2015, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethics-of-bank-robbery-during-economic-depression/717202 "2015-04-09T12:43:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethics-of-bank-robbery-during-economic-depression/717202/21 "2015-04-10T23:48:16Z")
As the great philosopher Willie Sutton said, you rob banks because that is where the money is. There is no money in a failed bank so you’d have to be a schmuck to rob one. So I’ll ignore that part of it. Now, if the depositors in a bank are the relatively poor salt of the earth, robbing their money to give it back to them (with a percentage to you) is not good in any sense. But let’s try this scenario. Most of the deposits in a bank are held by local rich people, and much of their money has come from driving the regular people off their land, buying it for a song, and then reselling it for a huge profit. Or, money comes from using their local monopoly power to overcharge the masses. Of course the law and government are in the pockets of the rich. In this very specific situation, you might have a shot at justifying bank robbery, as long as you made sure no one got hurt. Which would be tough to do. I don’t necessarily agree with myself, but I wanted some debate beyond robbery is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2015, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethics-of-bank-robbery-during-economic-depression/717202/22 "2015-04-11T00:06:47Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > When you put it this way … yes. And it’s not robbery. It’s getting a refund by other means. And I probably know nothing about the other 9 people. That’s nuts. It’s no more moral to rob that bank than for creditors to hire gangs of thugs to go after anyone who declares bankruptcy. Whichever gang gets to its victim - or debtor - first gets made as whole as possible. This is one of the exact reasons we have courts: so we can have some kind of fairness in situations like these, not a return to jungle law. Let’s also keep in mind that bank robbery is a violent act, which can, intentionally or no, result in people being killed. There is absolutely no moral claim to threaten people’s lives because of an attempt to cheat others out of money. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethics-of-bank-robbery-during-economic-depression/717202/23 "2015-04-11T00:10:49Z")
“These are difficult times, and we see people who are normally decent stooping to the level of robbing a bank, or even working for a bank.” - G. K. Chesterton ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethics-of-bank-robbery-during-economic-depression/717202/24 "2015-04-11T20:43:31Z")
> [@Potestas](#): > > … to see if I could justify the actions of Bonnie and Clyde during the 20s and 30s on the the criterion of times being tough and they saw themselves as taking from powerful but corrupt institutions. For example when they would rob a bank they would let the poor farmers keep the money in their wallets and wouldn’t rob from them. > > I suppose in some ways its a very Robin Hood esque mentality, taking from those percieved to be at the top in society on the basis that there simply isn’t any other way to be successful. Except [Clyde wasn’t just a bank robber](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_and_Clyde#1932:_Early_jobs.2C_early_murders); he robbed from small stores and killed police and some of the victims of his robberies: > [@](#): > > Though known today for his dozen-or-so bank robberies, Barrow preferred to rob small stores or rural gas stations. The gang is believed to have killed at least nine police officers and several civilians. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethics-of-bank-robbery-during-economic-depression/717202.md?page=1)