Shoplifting And Theft Similarities

Theft and shoplifting are both crimes against society that involve the general taking of someone else’s property. Upon hearing about a crime of stealing, many people wonder which crime should the perpetrator be charged with? People can also wonder why criminals can get charged with a crime that is seemingly related to larceny in general. Even though shoplifting and theft both involve taking something of value from another, the charges each have differences and similarities that separates them apart from each other.

Theft is the act of someone stealing another’s person’s property with the intent to deprive them of their possession (“Theft,” n.d.). Unlike the charge of shoplifting, theft generally involves matters that are not physically inside

The first similarity between the two charges is that they both involve stealing an item of value from someone (Portman, 2015). Items of value that can be stolen as a result of shoplifting and theft can range from something as small as stealing a man’s wallet all the way to deliberately stealing a flat screen television during Black Friday at Walmart. Another similarity between the charge of shoplifting and theft involves the classification of the charge. Both shoplifting and theft are both misdemeanor crimes. However, depending on the value of the item that was stolen, this misdemeanor can be often be elevated to a felony (Portman, 2015). If someone steals a wallet it is likely that they would be charged with a misdemeanor. Likewise, a person who steals a flat screen television could end up facing a serious felony charge. One final similarity is that both crimes are a form of larceny. Larceny is the act of stealing personal property that is in the possession of another with the intent to deprive the possessor of it, while knowing that he or she was not entitled to it (Welty, 2016). Both charges each have a statutory element that is related to larceny. The statutory definitions of theft and shoplifting each include an element stating that the perpetrator must have an intent to deprive a possessor of an item. According to John Welty, this can mean that a criminal can charged with both larceny and either shoplifting or theft in some cases