criminal-law
Laws concerning stealing and killing
<p>I have two questions:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Is stealing your stolen cell phone considered a crime?</p>
</li>
<li><p>Is killing a dead person punishable?</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Please provide legitimate sources.</p>

<p>Doing something to a dead body that would kill it if it were a living person is not murder, manslaughter, or any form of homicide in any country that I know of.  It may be a crime to mutilate a corpse, or some similar provision.  It may also be attempted murder.</p>
<p>For example, in the US state of Oklahoma, <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/2014/title-21/section-21-1161.1/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section §21-1161.1</a> provides:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A. It is unlawful for any person to knowingly and willfully desecrate a human corpse for any purpose of:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Tampering with the evidence of a crime;</p>
</li>
<li><p>Camouflaging the death of human being;</p>
</li>
<li><p>Disposing of a dead body;</p>
</li>
<li><p>Impeding or prohibiting the detection, investigation or prosecution of a crime;</p>
</li>
<li><p>Altering, inhibiting or concealing the identification of a dead body, a crime victim, or a criminal offender; or</p>
</li>
<li><p>Disrupting, prohibiting or interfering with any law enforcement agency or the Office of the State Medical Examiner in detecting, investigating, examining, determining, identifying or processing a dead body, cause of death, the scene where a dead body is found, or any forensic examination or investigation relating to a dead body or a crime.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>B. Upon conviction, the violator of any provision of this section shall be guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections for a term not more than seven (7) years, by a fine not exceeding Eight Thousand Dollars ($8,000.00), or by both such fine and imprisonment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In addition, if the person <strong>thought</strong> that the dead body was a living person, and tried to kill that person. There may be a charge of attempted murder on which a conviction might be possible. See <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/60629/attempted-murder-of-a-dead-man">&quot;attempted murder&quot; of a dead man?</a> for details.</p>
<p>In general, if property (such as a cell phone) has been stole from a person, that person my reclaim such property, and doing so is not theft. However, a person is not in most jurisdictions permitted to enter someone else's property, to break and enter, or to assault a suspected thief in order to recover property. A person who actually observes a theft (or other serious crime) is in many jurisdictions allowed to pursue the thief/criminal and use reasonable non-deadly force to stop and detain the thief pending the arrival of law enforcement, who should be promptly summoned. The details vary widely from place to place. The use of deadly force, such as a gun, is generally not permitted, except in proper self-defense, but again the details vary widely.</p>
