Identity theft is an important crime in society today and it needs to be heavily enforced and prosecuted. According to Transunion. com, As of 2015, 9. 9 million Americans are victims of identity theft, with an incident happening on average every 19 seconds. This proves just how important of a crime identity theft is and that it should be better protected and have harsher consequences.
The legal definition of identity theft according to Dakota Family Bank and Foundations of Computer Society is “the fraudulent acquisition and use of a person’s private identifying information, usually for financial gain. Identity theft is in relation to the crime of stealing as if someone is committing Identity Theft, then they are taking the name of someone and taking their money and financial concerns. Changeling Henry Day is certainly guilty of the identity theft of Henry Day because he knew for sure that he was taking someone’s identity and he also stole the original Henry Day’s personality and took him away from his family. Ultimately, Henry Day’s identity was stolen and this huge loss should definitely be avenged.
One of the reasons why the new Henry Day is for sure guilty of identity theft is because he knowingly assumed the role of Henry Day in his family. He knew long before he switched places with him that he was to take his spot and learn the way that he lives his life in order to avoid suspicion from his parents. In Henry Day’s changeling society, a changeling waits until all of the other older changeling’s leave and commit identity theft and then they switch with a human and becoming assimilated into human life.
The changelings tend to pick on parents who sometimes neglect their children and then when they aren’t looking, they swipe the child away from its family and replace it with a changeling. Thus, the changelings know what they are doing, and are committing identity theft. “Or better yet, I am a changeling- a word that describes within its own name what we are bound and intended to do. We kidnap a human child and replace him or her with one of our own. The hobgoblin becomes the child, and the child becomes a hobgoblin” (Donahue 3).
Here, it is highlighted that the hobgoblins certainly know that they are stealing someone’s identity as they describe how a hobgoblin steals the life of a child. Thus, the Hobgoblin Henry Day is certainly guilty of identity theft. When Henry Day (the changeling) decided to morph into Henry Day, his personality wasn’t changed from when he was a changeling just because he was now supposed to be a human. For example, the changeling Henry took his talents as a piano player from his life in a German family and translated them to the new “Henry Day’s” life.
As we know, the original Henry day was much different from this imposter, he couldn’t carry a tune or play music, heck, he couldn’t even tell his twin sisters apart. This new “Henry” took away two parents’ son and replaced him with someone that wasn’t related to them, and this was unbeknownst to them. This is totally unfair to them and completely proves that he stole the identity of their child, as well as kidnapped the child into a scary changeling world. This proves just another facet of why Henry Day should be charged for identity theft.
One could argue that Henry Day is not guilty of Identity theft, but I for sure disagree. One of the opposing arguments that can be made for Henry’s innocence is that Henry isn’t technically a human. I disagree with this statement because Henry is able to do the same things that humans can do once he switched places with his victim: the new Aniday. After the switch, he took piano lessons, went to college, and even started a band, 3 things only humans can possibly do.
So I believe the argument that Henry Day is technically not an adult is irrelevant, because he is able to live a sufficient life as a human. Another opposing argument that was made was that Henry Day wasn’t even a real person in real life, so that he couldn’t possibly be charged with a crime because he doesn’t exist. I again wholeheartedly disagree with this statement because that wasn’t the point of the trial. The point of the trial was to declare who was guilty within the realm of the story, and not relate it too much to real life outside of The Stolen Child.
Overall, I think the prosecution did a much better job at explaining their reasoning for their guilty decision and their facts were a lot less far-fetched than the defense group. But even without the evidence from the trials, from just reading the novel alone, I would definitely find Henry Day guilty of identity theft. He is guilty because he knew that he was taking someone’s identity and he wiped away the talents and personality of the old Henry day and made his so called parents suspicious that he was an imposter.
Oftentimes, changelings are afraid of typical humans finding out about their identity because they fear the consequences. And that is because that they know that there are consequences because they are committing a crime. So just because changelings have their own “changeling culture” per say of stealing people’s identity doesn’t mean they should be able to get away with it. Overall, I am positive that Henry Day is guilty of identity theft and he should be punished for his actions.