Larceny: Theft and Webster Dictionary

Larceny
Larceny is “the unlawful taking of personal property with intent to deprive the rightful owner of it permanently”, defined by the Merriam - Webster dictionary. There are different levels of larceny. There is Grand Larceny which is usually defined as theft of a more significant amount of property. In the United States it is often defined as items or currency that is valued as $400 or more. In New York grand larceny applies to amounts of $1000 or more. Grand larceny is classified as a Class A felony. To bluntly say it, larceny is stealing from others. No matter what the motives or reasons behind stealing are, it is still wrong. I imagine there are a million of motives for someone to convince himself or herself that it is worth the risk to steal something. Some other people might also not have the conscience to feel wrong for stealing. A large part of this is because people do not understand who or what they are harming when they steal. Most people don’t care and only worry about their problems. Even after being caught someone might only feel bad for himself or herself.
One of the biggest overlooked damages of stealing is the negative effect it has upon the economy. The original items being stolen are being priced higher because stores have to make up for the stolen items. Also when items are stolen, it significantly hurts the stores profit. Stealing is damaging enough to actually force stores into foreclosure. Without competition, businesses will raise their prices knowing they are the only ones with certain products. This hurts the whole community who will have to pay more money for items and these are customers who don’t illegally steal. Selfish acts of larceny are causing hard working citizens to lose jobs and suffer.
Crime costs a lot of money in many different ways. Most people know that there are costs that come with preventing crime and offering treatment to perpetrators and victims. Direct costs can be law enforcement, justice, prison costs, and healthcare. In 2008 the Bureau of Justice reported it was estimated that over $16 billion was lost in property crimes and over $1 billion in violent crimes; Te Federal Bureau of Investigation wrote that in 2010 over $450 million was lost in robberies reported to the police. Property value due to robbery was over $1,200 annually. Larceny accounted for over 6,185,000 thefts in 2010 nationwide. An average cost per offense is just over $900; nationally the loss is over $6.1 billion. I Committed Larceny in the 6th degree. I plead guilty to the charge because I knew what I did was wrong. Stealing affects a lot of people. It can affect your family, friends and anyone else surrounding you. It cost a lot of money to fix and in the end it is never worth it. I learned that Stealing is a very serious crime even if you think it isn’t. It can ruin your life because once you get caught it sticks with you forever and it won’t go away.