Comment by nobody9999

2 days ago

>This is their purpose, they're used to build cases over time, instead of single instances of petty theft, until shoplifters can be charged with felonies when the cumulative amount that they stole reaches felony levels.

I've heard the idea of combining multiple misdemeanor thefts to make a felony. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Wouldn't that require an ongoing criminal conspiracy/enterprise to "combine" such disparate acts into a single, chargeable crime?

Some state laws do "upgrade" crimes, both misdemeanor --> felony and felony --> more serious felony based on prior convictions, but not (AFAIK) with multiple separate acts whose aggregate value is greater than the cutoff between petty theft and grand theft.

What's more, it's the local prosecutor who decides what charges to bring against someone accused of shoplifting, not the "Loss Prevention" team at a store or its corporate parent.

The idea just seems unlike how local/state laws and justice systems work in the US.

I could be (and likely am) wrong about this, but I've been unable to find state laws[0] which specify that multiple, separate acts of shoplifting can be combined into a single grand theft felony.

Would you share which states have such laws? It would be much appreciated!

[0] https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/crime-penalties/federa... [1]

[1] See the bottom of the page for links to most US state laws.

4 comments

nobody9999

heavyset_go 2 days ago

There's aggregation laws that allow shoplifting incidents to be added up to a total charge.

Also, consider someone stealing small amounts over a year from a single store, a chain of stores or a group of stores with the same owners. The victims in these cases are the same entity.

That said, the trend in my area is for business owners to share data about accused shoplifters, help law enforcement with investigations, etc. I would not be surprised if they're all using a platform to do this these days.

- https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/11/organized-retail-crime-nine-...

- https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/12/30/new-in-2025-cracking-down-...

- https://www.davisfirmllc.com/blog/the-retail-theft-aggregati...

- https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024/monica...

nobody9999 1 day ago

Thanks!

mlrtime 1 day ago

It makes a whole lot of sense, otherwise there is a loophole for unlimited stealing as Police/DAs do not want to waste time on misdemeanor theft.

Also, you don't want to criminalize the person who stole one small thing vs serial shoplifter.

nobody9999 1 day ago

>It makes a whole lot of sense, otherwise there is a loophole for unlimited stealing as Police/DAs do not want to waste time on misdemeanor theft.

Actually, this was already addressed (n.b., aggregation laws only exist in nine states, see GP's link here[1]) in most places by an increase in the severity of the crime charged for folks being convicted multiple times. cf. Alabama's law[0] as an example:

   Enhanced Penalties for Theft Convictions in Alabama

   Alabama law increases the penalties for habitual (repeat) felony offenders. 
   The length of the enhanced penalty depends on the number of past convictions 
   and the felony offense level for the current offense.

   Second felony. For a second felony conviction, the sentence is raised one 
   level—for instance, a class B felony increases to a class A felony. This 
   penalty increase applies only to current offenses classified as class A, B, 
   or C felonies.

   Third felony. A person with two prior felony offenses faces the following 
   minimum prison terms: 10 years for a class C felony, 15 years for a class B 
   felony, and 99 years for a class A felony.

   Fourth felony. A fourth felony offense results in minimum prison terms of 15 
   years for a class C felony, 20 years for a class B felony, and life for a 
   class A felony.

   Class D felony with prior convictions. When the current offense is a class D 
   felony and the person has two or more class A or B felony convictions or 
   three or more felonies in general, the penalty increases to a Class C felony.

   (Ala. Code § 13A-5-9 (2024).)

Whatever information a "Loss Prevention" team has might be useful to a DA, but unless there's authentication and verified chain of custody of such evidence, the ability to fake such "video surveillance" makes such "evidence" not worth a damn.

[0] https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/criminal-def...

[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/11/organized-retail-crime-nine-...