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Texas is going to need bigger prisons. I suppose they could outsource it.
We could save on costs by outsourcing our prisons to other countries.
Maybe we could send Africans to Burkina Faso, Hispanics to Honduras, and White Trash criminals can go to a rough-n-tumble country like Ukraine or Serbia. And best case scenario: many of them simply walk out the front door of the prison when their sentences are complete and make their home there.
And why not? We could save money because everyone else is going to do it cheaper, the other countries can make money off the deal, and criminals can actually learn lessons rather than be put up in cushy Hotel Supermax for years at egregious taxpayer expense.
An added benefit: If they stay where they are we get to remove losers from our country's genepool (which seems to be degenerating year after year) as well as removing them from our streets.
Definitely needs to be a better way to deliver all packages. We live in a multi-family condo and one person had their passport stolen (sent by USPS). They offered a $500 reward but it didn't turn up. What a hassle! Passports are costly and getting one replaced is a huge hassle and very expensive. Where I live, the PO often leaves packages by the wrong doors, so we end up taking the package to the correct unit. Others do the same, but it's a headache to have to do the post office's job.
Some large apt or condo complexes don't want to be bothered with storing packages for tenants, and staying home waiting for deliveries isn't an option for everyone. It's become a big problem.
Amazon hires contractors to deliver the last mile, but they are hit and miss. Some just dump packages in a building lobby instead of taking them to the unit doors. I've seen them drag heavy boxes across the sidewalks instead of using a hand cart, some are very lazy. There has to be a better way.
They are working on this right now (and have been for some time), the brick and mortar locations have the advantage that customers can get their purchases right away (at the time of purchase/same day), you can bet online retailers want the same capability.
Some of the ideas are pretty interesting and could change how packages and bulk materials are delivered in the future! One of them I read about not long ago was the technology to email or text tangible objects.
Yes, it is about how much something costs. If you steal a $50 shirt from JC Penney, that's a very different crime from stealing a flat screen TV. The value of the stolen goods delineates misdemeanor from felony.
But the person stealing the package doesn't know it's value. The criminal act was the same, why should the punishment be random luck as to what was inside? A package theft from the porch also involves a trespass on your property and strikes too close to home (pardon the pun).
As noted, a USPS package theft has always been a felony, why should the carrier matter? Why should it be a felony if USPS delivered it but a misdemeanor if UPS delivered it?
There's an easy solution for someone not to go to jail for stealing a package containing a $10 book. Can you guess what it is?
It takes a lot of successive steps to commit package theft in the classical sense (off-the-doorstep snatch-and-run). I think this takes into account the multiple individual crimes committed in the process, and the deliberation involved:
1. Must have intent to commit the crime
2. Must leave own dwelling or decide to stop en route to another destination to begin searching
3. Continue to search for packages unattended
4. Find a home, select a home, decide to make attempt (the first four steps build up to demonstrate this is not a thoughtless, impulsive endeavor)
5. Walk upon private property (trespass)
6. Touch labeled and addressed property that's not yours, intent to open it (tampering)
7. Leave with it (theft)
Also, goods are either delivered by US Mail or a carrier which may operate in a similar way, placing paid-for, addressed goods assigned to a named addressee on private property of said addressee.
So I can see how package theft (whether actual US Mail or otherwise) can be charged as a felony.
The alternative is throw the book of misdemeanors at them, half don't stick, and the others are plead down to no jail time, with probation and simple restitution, if any.
The strange thing about it imo, when you pick a random house and go steal a package from their porch or patio, you have NO idea what you are stealing!!! It could be a doll for a little girl or toys for a toddler LOL (what is a thief going to do with those?!)
The chances you are going to get something valuable, that can be quickly resold and turned into cash...is a really far longshot, even with medications...whats the chances its going to the type of medications a thief would want (like opioids narcotics, etc), chances are better its blood pressure meds or ostomy supplies!!
Imo, this is related to the drug problem, addicts hoping to find something valuable, they can turn into cash, so they can buy more dope (same day).
There is just no way professional thieves would waste their time stealing something, when they dont even know for sure what it is!
I think you have to take them out of a Post Office box to have it be a felony.
Tampering with the mail is a serious crime, but that doesn't apply to packages left out in the open by a postman, I don't believe.
Why is it a serious crime? Why should it be a felony to steal a letter and open it? I mean, I can see it if there are medical results in there and releasing them destroys someone's reputation but what if it's just a birthday card with no money? Well, the penalty is based on the *potential* harm and to protect the integrity of the system. And it's the same with package theft. The *potential* is there for the item to be very valuable and important, and in a world that is moving ever more to direct home delivery it is important that we protect the integrity of that.
Why is it a serious crime? Why should it be a felony to steal a letter and open it? I mean, I can see it if there are medical results in there and releasing them destroys someone's reputation but what if it's just a birthday card with no money? Well, the penalty is based on the *potential* harm and to protect the integrity of the system. And it's the same with package theft. The *potential* is there for the item to be very valuable and important, and in a world that is moving ever more to direct home delivery it is important that we protect the integrity of that.
There are separate penalties and crime titles for the "violation and endangerment of information security" component of the act, and for the "what the person actually did with the information" part. That's why there often seems to be a handful of charges, not just one, for offenders.
It's not always someone just looking to get his or her adrenaline rush for the day... typically there's motivation. And liquidating the spoils is yet another page in a very thick book they could throw.
I honestly don’t think it’s going to make a difference.
Firstly, that one time they get busted contrasts with 50 times they didn’t.
First-time offenders will get probation anyway. Second time offenders will get intensive supervised probation. Third time offenders might spend a minute in lockdown but then again, a lot of states do mandatory half-time anyway. So make that a half-a-minute.
It’s not like these offenders check themselves prior to going on a run & think “Wait, I can’t do that now; it’s a Felony! I’m not going to waste my college education by getting a Felony!”
Sometimes the way ‘society’ or a community tries to problem solve criminal behavior reminds me of the anthropomorphizing phenomena. I’m NOT saying criminals aren’t human but they really aren’t human like you all are. What would be a game-changer for you isn’t even on their radar.
I honestly don’t think it’s going to make a difference.
One way it might make a difference is that because package theft is now a felony charge in Texas, the police there now have some incentive to set up sting operations to nab the people who drive behind delivery vehicles to steal package after package after package. Before this change in the law, they didn't; any arrest made was simply not worth the time and effort they had to expend to make it.
I think that's what's behind the new Texas law. Package theft off of a porch used to be rare, and when it happened it was probably done by one of the neighborhood kids. But with the rise of online shopping there's been a concurrent rise in organized adult thieves who are specializing in package theft. They're not stealing a package here and there; they're following the delivery vehicle around and stealing every package it drops off. That's a more serious level of theft, and it deserves a more serious level of punishment.
I wonder if they also have something setup where they sell these items. Or maybe use ebay.
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