Man Was Sentenced to Die in Prison for Shoplifting a $159 Jacket: This Happens More Than You Think

[cascadiance]

16. There is a reason that shoplifting and crimes like this are classified as felonies...

... which is what causes problems like three strikes laws in California and other states.

Many people are lead in their understanding of rationale for these laws by those that create three strikes laws that felonies are only violent crimes and therefore deserve to be the criteria that creates three strikes to lead to lifetime in prison, etc. It varies a little by state, but it has everything to do with the ability on whether a citizen can make a citizen's arrest and hold someone for a crime they witness only if the crime they witness is a felony.

In many states citizens can't arrest someone else for a crime like speeding, parking tickets, etc. because they are all classified as misdemeanors. You have to be a police officer or working as a citizen under direction of a police officer on the scene to make an arrest and hold someone who doesn't want to be arrested.

Therefore many states classify crimes like shoplifting as felonies, not misdemeanors, not because they are violent crimes, but so that "store detectives", or other civilians can make a citizen's arrest and hold someone for police custody later if they catch shoplifting in a store. Otherwise the most they could do is call the cops and hope that the thief is still on the scene when the cops arrive.

I know this because at one time in my young life I worked as a store detective briefly, and this basic fact was made clearly to us, and therefore also made clear which criminal acts we could arrest people for and which we couldn't. Otherwise those arrested could sue for false arrest on things like us holding someone for parking illegally, etc.

This is why laws like three strikes need to be written very carefully to not count things like shoplifting a candy bar as a "strike" compared to armed robbery or something like that which arguably should be on that list. That or state laws needs to have a different category besides misdemeanors and felonies that allows for people to be arrested with citizen's arrests, but not be considered in the same category as other felony crimes.

Too many people don't understand this nuance, which is why you get problematic laws like three strikes passed in California, which create this problem for their justice system, especially if there are mandatory verdict/sentencing restrictions that don't allow for thoughtful judges to make sure that non-violent crimes don't count towards life sentences.