Penalties of identity theft
Penalties of identity theft
Personal or private information as the name suggests is that information whose accessibility is reserved exclusively to the owner. However, sometimes this information falls into the wrong hands and is used at the expense of the owner. Normally this happens when a person without exclusive authority of the owner obtains personal information of another and uses it to his benefit. This is commonly referred to as identity theft and is punishable in many countries as a criminal offence. In 2004, the United States of America’s President passed a bill that required extremely tough measures be taken on all identity theft offenders. The previous law was made more severe as a way of ensuring that these criminal acts are curbed. The first Act on identity theft prevention was enacted in 2001. It was however repealed in 2004, making the punishments already provided more severe. According to the 2004 enactment, the already provided penalties were to be increased by two years and five years respectively for all identity theft offenders and grave identity theft offenders respectively. Being the most rapidly growing crime, the only way and means of ensuring that the growth rate of this crime goes down is by imposing heavy penalties on the offenders. According to the prevailing Act on identity theft, any person found guilty of this crime is to be sentenced to a jail imprisonment or incarceration for not less than a period of five years. According to the relevant authorities, such stern measurers will contribute significantly to the reduction of the crime. In addition, the heavy and stern measures are also attributed to the heavy loss in terms of finances and otherwise that a victim of identity theft suffers. It is believed that identity theft is one crime that plays a contributory role in undermining the economy of any given country. The economy stagnates due to such criminal activities and thus heavy penalties are important to ensure that the vice is eliminated completely. Identity theft has now been classified as an aggravated crime and this goes a long way to show how serious this crime is perceived. Governments of various countries have, in addition to providing stiffer penalties for identity offenders, put up advanced technology methods to be able to detect easily various cases of identity fraud and theft. Although the prison terms vary depending on the type of identity theft committed, there are some mandatory punishments and penalties for anyone found guilty of an identity theft crime. It is believed that with identity theft penalties having been made stiffer, the rate of this crime is likely to decrease.










