Russian-speaking resources have been writing about American laws for several years, allowing thieves without any risk to their freedom to empty stores. We checked whether this is really so.
According to numerous publications of recent years, America was overwhelmed by a wave of store thefts, whose participants remain unpunished. Everything is allegedly due to the fact that in a number of states-for example, in California and New York-theft for up to $ 1000 is now considered a crime (in some articles it is specified that violators are not sent to bars, but they can still be fined). According to the media and users of social networks, thieves go shopping with a calculator, pick up goods to the specified limit and without any resistance from the security part of the security point to return the next day for new prey.
Such phenomena were written by such publications as RT, NTV, REGNUM, "Arguments and facts" And Maximas well as entertainment sites (for example, "Picabu"). The TV presenter spoke about the situation in his Telegram channel Vladimir Solovyov.
The topic of street crime in the United States reached the first lanes of world newspapers in 2021, when after the death of the African American George Floyd Mass protests began at the hands of the police in the country, which turned into riots. It is then that the media (including Russian) They started to write About the atmosphere of impunity and new laws that allow thieves not to worry about their freedom. Often messages were accompanied Videos From the scene.
Consider the situation on the example of two states that usually appear in such news notes-California and New York.
In 2014 in California voted for the adoption of an offer 47 - legislative initiative, providingthat only convicts for serious and/or violent crimes will be sent to prison, and saved money will be sent to schools (for the prevention of future offenses), services for assistance to victims and for the treatment of people with mental illness and drug addiction. Within this legislative act Introduced A separate concept of “store theft”, which was defined as penetration into a commercial institution during working hours with the subsequent prediction of property in the amount of up to $ 950. This type of offense, according to proposal 47, falls into the category Misdiminor, that is, minor crimes bordering the degree of gravity on an administrative offense. Nevertheless, for store theft is the punishment in the form of detention for up to six months or a fine of up to $ 1000. How Lawyers explain, the store thief has the greatest chance to get the maximum term in the event of a relapse of a crime (which, however, does not guarantee it at free, even in the event of the first misconduct). In addition, theft in non -working hours is qualified already as burglary Regardless of the cost of stolen, but in workers, but with the use or threat of force, as robbery (up to nine years in prison). Since 2021, California legislation has also been valid Concept “Organized theft in retail trade”, and in these cases even accomplices of store thieves Threats Prison report for up to one year. Despite the concessions in the legislation, in California, as in the United States as a whole, until the beginning of the 2020s observed The fall in the number of crimes against property.
Similarly, legal affairs are in the state of New York, where theft of property is up to $ 1000 in the absence of aggravating circumstances counts small, refers To Misdiminor class A and is punishable by imprisonment for up to 364 days or a fine of up to $ 1000. If such a crime was the first in the biography of the offender, he can Offer a milder sentence is a fine or public work, but this approach is not guaranteed. In 2022, the state was registered about 22,000 cases of arrest for store thefts, but this is 5.81% belowthan on average in the country, despite all reports about the law allegedly provoking such crimes.
Special attention deserves Distributed In 2023, the information that the new California law allegedly forbade store employees to prevent theft and robberies. However, this statement is incorrect - in fact, it Forbidden Employers to force their employees to resist such circumstances, and this restriction does not apply to the store security service. The measure is designed to preserve the lives and health of ordinary employees of retail outlets, such as cashiers and managers.
Thus, contrary to the distributed information, often accompanied by numerous videos, laws in California and New York do not allow you to rob local stores with an amount of up to $ 950 and up to $ 1000, respectively. These violations are among the albeit minor, but crimes for which their punishment is provided - up to imprisonment. The number of store thefts in the USA is enough Great, the percentage of detention of violators at the crime scene, indeed Very low, however, this does not exempt them from liability to the law.
Photo on the cover: csnews.com
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