Reference no: EM133809314

Question

Embezzlement and theft are indeed both criminal offenses involving the unlawful taking of someone else's property, but they differ primarily in the relationship between the offender and the property or owner at the time of the offense. ## Embezzlement Embezzlement occurs when someone who was entrusted with the property takes it for their own use. This typically happens in a business or corporate setting. For example, a company's accountant might embezzle money by diverting some of the company's funds into their own account. In this case, the accountant initially has lawful possession of the money because of their job role, but they cross into illegality when they decide to keep it for themselves. ## Theft Theft, on the other hand, involves taking someone else's property without their permission and with the intent to permanently deprive them of it. The person committing theft does not have lawful possession of the property at any point. For instance, if someone breaks into a house and steals a television, they are committing theft. It seems there might be a slight confusion in your statement. An embezzler does start out with lawful possession of the property due to their position of trust, but it's incorrect to say that "an embezzler never has lawful possession of the property." It's actually the opposite: the embezzler starts with lawful possession and then abuses that trust to unlawfully take the property for themselves.