It is pretty ****ty to put him in jail.

**** if my mom died and they kept sending checks I'd keep cashing them.

No, he deliberately went into the post office pretending his mother was alive. ****er. He's tarnished her memory. How could you do that? Hang the ****er. (:))
Seriously, yes, if the cheques were being sent anyway, maybe, but since he went to such lengths to defraud the Social Welfare, then no. **** him.

He took her money so now I can't remember that she baked really good cookies.

I don't have any problem with it ethically or morally. If he only got 18 months for 16 years of checks that's not a bad deal either.

Guess that's where we differ. If I did it I'd expect to be visited by the ghost of my mother for the rest of my life. I repeat: ****.

Why? What's she gonna do with the money?

It's stealing, dude. You either have morals or you don't. Your mother either brought you up right or she didn't. If you don't get it, I can't help you. It's all about a thing called respecting the memory of your departed loved ones.

Is it really stealing if it no longer has a recipient? Fraud is a better choice.

Even if you think that it's amoral, I fail to see how it can be disrespectful to their memory. Unless that person was someone who made every little thing about themselves, at which point I'm not sure if I'd want to respect their memory anyways.

Not saying I would do it, cause I'm a puss who'd feel bad, but if the politicians who run our government steal from the public coffers then it sounds like fair play to do the same. Otherwise you're working at a disadvantage.

Yes it is. It's money that's due his mother for her old age. She is now dead, so not entitled to the money, nor is anyone else entitled to collect it on her behalf. It's the same as if you're on the dole (receiving social security, I guess you'd call it) and then you get a job and don't sign off, so you collect money you're not due. It is stealing. I guess it's also fraud, but then fraud usually involves a form of stealing anyway, so I guess that's splitting hairs.
Because my mother brought me up not to steal, especially from her goddamn corpse, man! How is that so hard to understand? If I did that, my ma would turn in her grave. Jesus. Have you no morals?