What is grand larceny? Can you get harsher penalties for a grand larceny offense?

Every state in the United States has different laws regarding theft, larceny, and petty crimes. However, when it comes to making the value of the crimes, it depends on the severity of the damages done as a result of the crime either theft or larceny. Any criminal offense or the criminal conviction on your record will seriously impact your professional life.

In many states, a theft that entails a felony charge will be considered as grand larceny and with this, penalties can be even harsher. But what is grand larceny?  When people are accused of any theft or crime related to stealing they often are treated unfairly. For this, and many other reasons such as misunderstanding, wrong accusations, inaccurate listing of theft materials, etc. you have to find a defense attorney to fight your charge of theft. Keep reading to have additional knowledge about grand larceny crimes and associated penalties for it.

What is grand larceny?

The term larceny means to deprive someone of their property or from possession of their stuff permanently. In most extreme cases of crimes, theft is referred to as grand larceny.

The milder theft crimes are usually called simple larceny and are often called petty crimes that generally are convicted with a misdemeanor whenever there is a theft involved with the amount less than a value regularized by states. For instance, many states have set $1000 worth of stolen property to be considered simple larceny or petty theft.

The charge of grand larceny would be identified when the value of a theft property exceeds the threshold local level. However, the threshold level of the grand larceny charge varies across states.

Many states consider shoplifting, stealing cash at the grocery store from the cash register, and car theft from the garage as the grand larceny charge. These crimes are different from the grand theft charge which includes crimes such as theft of electronics by breaking into someone’s house, credit card theft, stealing a vehicle when the driver is in the vehicle, ID theft, and selling and purchasing stolen property.

State-related degrees regarding grand larceny?

The degree of grand larceny depends on the value of the theft material that entails the severity of the penalties which can be elevated from milder fourth to severe first degree. Here’s the penal law code for each theft penalty defined by law.

• PL 155.42 – First-degree grand larceny – It is the most severe charge and would be imposed when there is a theft of property exceeding the local threshold or the value of one million dollars.
• PL – 155.40 (1) – Second degree happens when someone stole property worth more than $50,000 but is less than one million dollars.
• PL 155.53 – Third Degree occurs when the value of the stolen property exceeds $3000 but is less than $50,000.
• PL 155.30 (1) – Fourth-degree charges happen when the worth of stolen property exceeds $1,000 but is less than $3,000.

In addition to that, there is also a Penal Law of PL 155.43 that defines the penalties for theft involving aggravated larceny crimes of automated teller machines. The penalties for this criminal charge fall in second-degree felony and the felon will be convicted under class C felony charge. However, the charge can only be imposed on the defendant who has been convicted of a third-degree felony charge for grand larceny within the duration of five years before a second-degree Class C felony charge.

Penalties of grand larceny according to degrees

The convictions and penalties of grand larceny depend directly on the nature of the stolen property. The maximum sentence designed for larceny are;

• 25 years behind the bars for first-degree larceny crime
• 15 years behind the bars for second-degree larceny crime
• 07 years behind the bars for third-degree larceny crime
• 04 years behind the bars for fourth-degree larceny crime

First-time offenders of larceny criminal execution can be sentenced for serving community help, fines, supervised probation, or conditional sentences in place of jail time. 

Possible defenses for a grand larceny offense

If you are convicted of a theft-related crime, there are potentially effective defenses that you can use in your favor. To provide evidence against your guilt, you can use the CCTV footage from the cameras installed at the grocery store and on the streets. In addition to that, an experienced defense attorney will also help you develop appropriate defenses that will ultimately help you in recovering from damages and walk free of charge out of court.

Some of the considerable defenses are;

• A presence of conflict concerning the owner of the property in question
• You were intoxicated and in the influence of a drug and didn’t know what you were doing
• There was an intent to return the property to its rightful owner
• You were forced to steal something from someone – entrapment.

Long-term consequences

No matter what degree of offense you were involved in, some consequences are there that will affect the rest of your life. Having a criminal conviction in your record can make it harder for you to get employment, loan, travel, and can have some other life-threatening ramifications that may linger with your records.

The best way to move with your case will be to hire a criminal defense attorney. Make sure to work with him in order to avoid any criminal record and get out of the court charge-free.