LOUIS B. SCHWARTZ
DAN M. KAHAN
See also BURGLARY; COMPUTER CRIME; EMPLOYEE THEFT: BEHAVIORAL ASPECTS; EMPLOYEE THEFT: LEGAL ASPECTS; ROBBERY; SHOPLIFTING.
Theft is a general term embracing a wide variety of misconduct by which a person is improperly deprived of his property. The purpose of theft law is to promote security of property by threatening aggressors with punishment. Property security is valued as part of the individual's enjoyment of his belongings and because the community wishes to encourage saving and economic planning, which would be j…
Larceny, not an original common law felony, must have emerged as the royal courts extended their jurisdiction beyond robbery to reflect increasing central concern for property security generally and to control the imposition of capital punishment, a sanction often employed in the illusory hope of repressing theft. As might be expected, the initial excursion of the royal courts into the law of thef…
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the pressures to extend theft law beyond the "trespass" limits of common larceny became irresistible. An offense had to be created to penalize the defalcations of bailees, trustees, and the like who clearly did not wrongfully infringe on the possession of others, since they had themselves been put in possession either by the owners or by authority of law,…
Larceny and embezzlement deal with takings and appropriations without the consent of the true owner. It is necessary now to confront the question of how far the penal law should go where the owner is not merely deprived of possession or enjoyment of his property, but voluntarily transfers his title to the property, as where he is induced to sell the property or to part with money as a result of tr…
The law generally penalizes an accessory to a crime only if he conspired or aided in its commission or if, after the commission, he harbors or conceals the offender, that is, obstructs law enforcement. The objective encouragement that a "fence," of professional receiver, gives to theft does not amount to conspiring or aiding in the theft, although a receiver can easily cross the line and become a …
The function of a penal code is not only to specify what is punishable but also to set legislative limits on the discretion of judges in imposing sentences and to express a legislative judgment on the relative heinousness of different offenses. The question then is, What do legislatures provide, and what should they provide, in the way of maximum sentences for various forms of theft? One might ini…
American Law Institute. Model Penal Code and Commentaries: Official Draft and Revised Comments. 3 vols. Philadephia: ALI, 1985. Note. "A Rationale of the Law of Aggravated Theft." Columbia Law Review 54 (1954): 84?110. U.S. National Commission on Reform of Federal Criminal Laws. Final Report: A Proposed New Federal Criminal Code (Title 18, United States Code). Washington, D.C.: The Commission, 197…
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User Comments
almost 3 years ago
Looking for information on court case sentencing regarding embezzlement charges. The Judge wants cases that look at the lienient side, does not want to set precedent I believe. DA and victim agreed to 10 years all suspended, do 5 years probabtion and make restitution. Judge did not like agreement and would not sign. Trying to find cases to substantiate this sentence.