Amazing how none of the people claiming not charging someone with a felony for shoplifting under a certain amount legalizes shoplifting while never saying wage theft being a civil matter has legalized companies stealing from their workers.
Hopefully I’m not the only one who saw this email arrive in my inbox and thought I was being specifically targeted. My first thought was “no I haven’t!” :)
From my experience, most DA’s won’t prosecute a Misdemeanor theft and even if they do, there is no serious fine or jail time. I’ve watched firsthand how brazen thieves walk out of stores with carts full of merchandise they can later sell. Business are terrified to confront them for the variety of liability and political reasons. This perpetuates the lack of consequence and any deterrence. If thieves were actually prosecuted and actually served 3-6 months in a local jail then the situation would be different. Right now in many places a misdemeanor is the equivalent to dismissal and zero consequences.
The TX legislature is surely taking note of this, and they'll probably get around to changing their law next session. They'll take the limit down to $1.79 to match their abortion stance. With a bounty, too.
As a Texan, this is news I can use. I'm heading to the CVS right now to purloin a gallon of milk, greeting cards and a box of Cheez-its. That's pushing the $2500 limit, but probably not past it.
No apologies necessary for a super-obvious incident of blatant leg-pulling
Balko: "[I]f you’re a shoplifter in California who wants to steal a lot more stuff without worrying about a felony charge, you might consider moving to Texas."
And since the 2023 cost of living index for TX (92.1) is less than two-thirds that for CA (142.2) (US avg index is normalized to 100), TX could give you more bucks for the bang than CA
Remember when Walgreens was caught stealing $4.5M from employees in California alone (https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/walgreens-employees-in-california-secure-4-5-million-wage-deal) and all Walgreens had to do was pay it back?
Amazing how none of the people claiming not charging someone with a felony for shoplifting under a certain amount legalizes shoplifting while never saying wage theft being a civil matter has legalized companies stealing from their workers.
Hopefully I’m not the only one who saw this email arrive in my inbox and thought I was being specifically targeted. My first thought was “no I haven’t!” :)
From my experience, most DA’s won’t prosecute a Misdemeanor theft and even if they do, there is no serious fine or jail time. I’ve watched firsthand how brazen thieves walk out of stores with carts full of merchandise they can later sell. Business are terrified to confront them for the variety of liability and political reasons. This perpetuates the lack of consequence and any deterrence. If thieves were actually prosecuted and actually served 3-6 months in a local jail then the situation would be different. Right now in many places a misdemeanor is the equivalent to dismissal and zero consequences.
The TX legislature is surely taking note of this, and they'll probably get around to changing their law next session. They'll take the limit down to $1.79 to match their abortion stance. With a bounty, too.
As a Texan, this is news I can use. I'm heading to the CVS right now to purloin a gallon of milk, greeting cards and a box of Cheez-its. That's pushing the $2500 limit, but probably not past it.
if you’re a shoplifter in California who wants to steal a lot more stuff without worrying about a felony charge, you might consider moving to Texas
considering how we got Texas in the first place, it seems only fair.
Excellent fact checking and nuanced reporting as usual.
I'm often bad at getting jokes, but I got this "cheek" right away.
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Balko: "My apologies!"
No apologies necessary for a super-obvious incident of blatant leg-pulling
Balko: "[I]f you’re a shoplifter in California who wants to steal a lot more stuff without worrying about a felony charge, you might consider moving to Texas."
And since the 2023 cost of living index for TX (92.1) is less than two-thirds that for CA (142.2) (US avg index is normalized to 100), TX could give you more bucks for the bang than CA
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/cost-of-living-index-by-state
.
Meanwhile, we've got a situation going on where the penalty for shoplifting in San Francisco seems to have been death. Or at least no contrary evidence from the powers that be. Link list: https://happening-here.blogspot.com/2023/05/theres-no-forgetting-death-of-banko.html