Theft

Related Topics:
Theft :: Theft_Prevention

In the criminal law, theft (also known as stealing) is the wrongful taking of someone else's property without that person's freely-given consent. As a term, it is used as shorthand for all major crimes against property, encompassing offences such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, trespassing, shoplifting, intrusion, fraud (theft by deception) and sometimes criminal conversion. In some jurisdictions, theft is considered to be synonymous with larceny, in others theft has replaced larceny.

Elements

The actus reus of theft is usually defined as an unauthorised taking, keeping or using of another's property which must be accompanied by a mens rea of dishonesty and/or the intent to permanently deprive the owner or the person with rightful possession of that property or its use.

For example, if X goes to a restaurant and, by mistake, takes Y's scarf instead of her own, she has physically deprived Y of the use of the property (which is the actus reus) but the mistake prevents X from forming the mens rea (i.e. because she believes that she is the owner, she is not dishonest and does not intend to deprive the "owner" of it) so no crime has been committed at this point. But if she realises the mistake when she gets home and could return the scarf to Y, she will steal the scarf if she dishonestly keeps it. Note that there may be civil liability for the torts of trespass to chattels or conversion in either eventuality.

Theft in English law

Theft was codified into a statutory offence in the Theft Act 1968 which defines it as:

"A person is guilty of theft, if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it".

The five elements of the offence are defined sequentially in the Act:

Section 2 dishonesty;
Section 3 "appropriation" which occurs when the defendant wrongfully asserts the rights of ownership over the property. This can be by physical taking, but it will also include many different situations in which a person may have lawfully come into possession of the property and then keeps (i.e. a failure to return or omission or uses the property in an unauthorised way;
Section 4 "property" includes all personalty, i.e. land itself cannot be stolen but anything severed from the land (with the exception of wild flowers) can be stolen, as can intangible property such as a chose in action;
Section 5 "belonging to another" requires a distinction to be made between ownership, possession and control:

ownership is where a person is not legally accountable to anyone else for the use of the property:

possession is where a person is only accountable to the owner for the use of the property; and

control is where a person is only accountable to two people for the use of the property.

So if A buys a car for cash, A will be the owner. If A then lends the car to B Ltd (a company), B Ltd will have possession. C, an employee of B Ltd then uses the car and has control. If C uses the car in an unauthorised way, C will steal the car from A and B Ltd. This means that it is possible to steal one's own property.

In R. -v- Turner (No 2) (1971) 1 WLR 901, the owner removed his car from the forecourt of a garage where it had been left for collection after repair. He intended to avoid paying the bill. There was an appropriation of the car because it had been physically removed but there were two issues to be decided:

did the car "belong to another"? The garage had a lien i.e. a "proprietary right or interest" in the car as security for the unpaid bill and this gave the garage a better right than the owner to possess the car at the relevant time.

what was the relevance of Turner's belief that he could not steal his own property? The defence of mistake of law) only applies if the defendant honestly believes that he has a right in law to act in the given way. Generalised and non-specific beliefs about what the law might permit are not a defence.

Section 6 "with the intent to permanently deprive the other of it" is sufficiently flexible to include situations where the property is later returned. For example, suppose that B, a keen football fan, has bought a ticket for the next home match. T takes the ticket, watches the match and then returns the ticket to B. In this instance, all that T returns is a piece of paper. Its value as a licence to enter the stadium on a particular day has been permanently lost. Hence, T steals the ticket. Similarly, if T takes a valuable antique but later repents and returns the goods, T has committed the actus reus with the mens rea. The fact that T's conscience forces a change of mind is relevant only for sentencing.

If the act of stealing is complete before another comes into possession of the goods, this may be handling. For alternative charges involving deceptions, see the deception offences and the Theft Act 1978 which may overlap with s1 Theft. For the theft of motor vehicles with or without violence, see robbery, blackmail and TWOC.

Theft in the U.S.

Although many U.S. states have retained larceny as the primary offense, some have now adopted theft provisions.

For example, California consolidated a variety of common law crimes into theft in 1927, and now distinguishes between two types of theft, grand theft and petty theft.California Penal Code Section 486. For the entire portion of the Penal Code covering theft, see Sections 484 through 502.9 at Findlaw. Grand theft generally consists of the theft of something of value over $400 (it can be money, labor or property),California Penal Code Section 487. while petty theft is the default category for all other thefts.California Penal Code Section 488. Both are felonies, but grand theft is punishable by a year in jail or prison,California Penal Code Section 489. while petty theft is punishable by a fine or six months in jail.California Penal Code Section 490. As for the older crimes of larceny, embezzling, and stealing, any references to them now mean theft instead.California Penal Code Section 490a.

In many states, grand theft of a vehicle is charged as "grand theft auto" (see motor vehicle theft for more information). This charge became the title of a popular series of video games about stealing cars (see Grand Theft Auto (series)).

Repeat offenders who continue to steal may become subject to life imprisonment in certain states. See Rummel v. Estelle, (upholding life sentence for fraudulent use of a credit card to obtain $80 worth of goods or services, passing a forged check in the amount of $28.36, and obtaining $120.75 by false pretenses) and Lockyer v. Andrade, (upholding sentence of 50 years to life for stealing videotapes on two separate occasions).

Notes

References

Allen,Michael. Textbook on Criminal Law. Oxford University Press, Oxford. (2005) ISBN 0199279187.
Criminal Law Revision Committee. 8th Report. Theft and Related Offences. Cmnd. 2977
Griew, Edward. Theft Acts 1968 & 1978, Sweet & Maxwell. ISBN 0421199601
Ormerod, David. Smith and Hogan Criminal Law, LexisNexis, London. (2005) ISBN 0406977305
Maniscalco, Fabio, Theft of Art (in Italian), Naples - Massa (2000) ISBN 8887835004
Smith, J. C. Law of Theft, LexisNexis: London. (1997) ISBN 0406895457.

Crimes | Theft | Criminology topics

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Elements

Theft in English law

Theft in the U.S.

Notes

See also

References