Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I really don't understand this. A felony is an egregious act, that comes with very serious consequences.
Package theft of items that sometimes are virtually worthless does NOT rise to the level of a felony. We are blurring the lines between petty crimes, and serious ones that need to be dealt with seriously.
Really? I order a book from Amazon for 15 bucks, and if someone takes it it's a FELONY punishable by up to 10 years in prison and 10,000 fine?
We've lost our way when strangers come onto our property to steal items, the value of which is unknown to them, BTW, and people think it shouldn't be dealt with seriously.
I really don't understand this. A felony is an egregious act, that comes with very serious consequences.
Package theft of items that sometimes are virtually worthless does NOT rise to the level of a felony. We are blurring the lines between petty crimes, and serious ones that need to be dealt with seriously.
Really? I order a book from Amazon for 15 bucks, and if someone takes it it's a FELONY punishable by up to 10 years in prison and 10,000 fine?
I really don't understand this. A felony is an egregious act, that comes with very serious consequences.
Package theft of items that sometimes are virtually worthless does NOT rise to the level of a felony. We are blurring the lines between petty crimes, and serious ones that need to be dealt with seriously.
Really? I order a book from Amazon for 15 bucks, and if someone takes it it's a FELONY punishable by up to 10 years in prison and 10,000 fine?
Something has to be done, Clara. Innocent people are having thousands of packages stolen off of their porches every year, and a slap on the wrist isn't doing a damn thing to deter the thieves. In other countries, the thief would be missing a hand or two.
Stealing is stealing, period. If hardworking people can not be safe in their own homes without some idiot walking up and taking things they paid for, then this country is in trouble.
People in Texas are fed up with it. Everybody that has security cameras are posting these porch thieves on Nextdoor dot com. It's on the local news all the time. Who pays for the lost package when it is reshipped?
Last year on Nextdoor somebody posted a video of a lady stealing a chair off their front porch and then a man running up to get the other chair. A different camera picked up these people jogging behind a small moving van. They were stealing things from people's yards and putting the items in this van as it slowing moved down the street. It was unbelievable.
I don't like thieves and believe that there should be penalties for stealing packages. Whenever a law like this is enacted, there is a financial reason. Many of the nation's prisons are run by for-profit companies. Those companies incorporate clauses in the contracts that state that the prisons must be kept at a certain percentage of capacity. Overcharging for offenses ensures that states meet those quotas.
We've lost our way when strangers come onto our property to steal items, the value of which is unknown to them, BTW, and people think it shouldn't be dealt with seriously.
This is the correct answer. The value is unknown, so it could be worth $50 or $5000. The thieves are hoping for the latter.
Someone stealing a $50 shirt from JC Penny knows it is $50 not $5000. Someone stealing a car worth $5000 knows it’s not worth $50.
I really don't understand this. A felony is an egregious act, that comes with very serious consequences.
Package theft of items that sometimes are virtually worthless does NOT rise to the level of a felony. We are blurring the lines between petty crimes, and serious ones that need to be dealt with seriously.
Really? I order a book from Amazon for 15 bucks, and if someone takes it it's a FELONY punishable by up to 10 years in prison and 10,000 fine?
Porch theft could be justified as financial need; therefore - these people will need financial support, housing, food, courtesy of the CA govt.
It already has happened in Dallas, TX. Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said he is NOT going to prosecute theft of "personal items" such as food, medicine, laundry detergent, soap, toothpaste, diapers etc... up to $750.
So, if you are small store owner in Dallas County and someone steals boxes of baby diapers they are not going to face consequences.
Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 4 days ago)
35,613 posts, read 17,948,343 times
Reputation: 50640
Quote:
Originally Posted by WMak70
Something has to be done, Clara. Innocent people are having thousands of packages stolen off of their porches every year, and a slap on the wrist isn't doing a damn thing to deter the thieves. In other countries, the thief would be missing a hand or two.
Stealing is stealing, period. If hardworking people can not be safe in their own homes without some idiot walking up and taking things they paid for, then this country is in trouble.
Something does have to be done, but this constant ramping up of charges to higher and higher prison sentences isn't the solution for petty crime. It's been shown time and again that stiffer penalties for crimes doesn't work; it's the surety that they'll be caught and suffer SOME consequence is more effective.
What I'm hearing coming on the horizon is a way to deliver packages into a secure box on the porch. Maybe something with a trap door, maybe a code that will be sent with the package order, etc.
And certainly, anything of real value shouldn't just be left outside where anything can happen to it.
Stealing a package from Amazon shouldn't be treated in the courts the same way as, for example, attempted murder.
And it looks to me like this would put that crime right in that category.
My Kindle died, so I ordered another one from Amazon. The day it was supposed to be delivered it started pouring down rain and storming like crazy, but that's OK, because I have a front porch as well as an overhang by the garage - surely they would put the package there if it didn't fit in the mailbox. So I got a notification saying they had left the package on the porch.
But they had not. They had left it balanced precariously on the top of a rounded mailbox - in the wind and rain. It was soaked when I got it. I am amazed it wasn't stolen, but then, who would want whatever was in that soaked package?
Look, don't steal packages and you won't get slapped with a crime at all. Not at all. Seems pretty easy to avoid a criminal charge of any sort to me.
And get this - with cameras everywhere, you are very likely to be videoed - and possibly caught. In fact, in the same house, we helped the police catch and charge a group of people breaking into cars because we caught them on video and we turned it over to the police.
Just don't steal. Then you won't be charged with theft.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
