PROPERTY CRIMES AND EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

Property crime is one of the unfortunate things many business owners wouldn’t like to happen on their precious investments. Petty thieves all the way up to property destruction fall into this category, and this could spell a huge blow not only in our business but the safety of people around us as well.

Let’s take a deeper understanding of what Property crimes mean and how it could affect our lives in general, and here’s everything we need to know about it.

PROPERTY CRIMES

Property crime falls into many sub-classes, and let’s take a look at it one at a time.

Theft- Theft covers a vast degree of the spectrum when it comes to potential damage to our property. In legal terms, it means taking properties from someone without any permission to deprive them of it.

Depending on the type of property taken from the possession and its total worth, theft can be classified into two categories, petty theft, and grand theft. Petty theft is usually defined as taking a property valued at $1000 or less, while grand theft is the other way around.

Burglary- It is an act of unlawful entry to a property or occupied structures using a certain degree of force or coercion with the intention of committing a crime within the vicinity, including stealing personal and valuable things or information.

Robbery- Robbery has a similar element with theft and burglary, but this time, it comes with a possible intention of harming others. In simpler terms, it is forcefully taking property or valuable with the use of force and violence.

A prime example of this would be pointing a gun at someone to get their cash from them. With this in mind, a home security system or something similar may help avoid this unfortunate event.

Shoplifting- In legal terms, shoplifting refers to the act of taking particular merchandise or goods, specifically from a place of business such as a store. Just like the previous ones, it also showcases a lack of permission from the owner.

Arson- Arson is a serious threat not only to properties but to the lives of people around it. When it comes to the legal definition, it is described as maliciously or intentionally burning down property in the hope of getting a return of some sort.

The return that we mention here can either be in the form of insurance claims and/or satisfaction to the person doing the act.

Vandalism- Vandalism has a huge scope to cover. Still, it merely means ruining someone else’s property and possessions without the permission of the owner or the person in charge of the property. Altering without the given signal to do so also falls into this category.

Vandalism is there to protect any property from any hate crimes against a specific person.

Just like any other offenses of the law, all of these property crimes can vary to a certain degree. Depending on the severity of the said crime, it can fall under a misdemeanor that has a minor verdict to a full-scale felony. In some cases, the punishment can even reach a point of a death penalty.

CONCLUSION

Now that we have a common understanding of what property crimes are, we can now clearly describe and differentiate some of the major crimes that may occur. Hopefully, we will not experience any of these dreaded circumstances, but it is better to equip ourselves with the right knowledge that can help us in our legal battle.

Still, the best way to get more details about this is from our trusted lawyers that are well-versed in criminal charges. We also need to put into consideration various elements, such as regulations, state, and federal laws.

Based on Materials from FindLaw