Felony petty theft is the colloquial term for a statute in the California Penal Code (Section 666) that makes it possible for a person who commits the crime of petty theft to be charged with a felony rather than a misdemeanor if the accused had previously been convicted of a theft-related crime at any time in the past. The technical name for the charge is petty theft with a prior.
Though this law has been on the books in California since 1872, its existence took on new importance after the state's voters approved a three strikes law in a 1994referendum, when it appeared on the ballot as Proposition 184. In certain cases, a person with two prior felony convictions has been charged with a third felony for committing a minor shoplifting crime. If one of the two previous felony charges had involved stealing in any manner then the shoplifting conviction, thus upgraded to a felony, would result in a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life in prison under the three-strikes law.
This scenario has aroused harsh criticism, not only throughout the United States, but also globally; several court challenges to its inclusion in the three-strikes law were pending as of 2004, but a ballot measure that would have eliminated it, known as Proposition 66, was rejected by California voters on November 2, 2004; the measure was opposed by most law-enforcement entities in the state, and also by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Generally referred to as Shoplifting, Pettytheft is the unlawful taking of someone else's property with the intent to deprive the owner of the property permanently.
Pettytheft is usually charged as a misdemeanor if it is a first offense, and the value of the property stolen is valued between $50 and $400.
Pettytheft can be punishable by a fine of up to $400 or by imprisonment in County jail for up to 6 months, or both.
Counterfeiting the coin has been made a felony instead of being treason; and forgery of most documents has been made a felony instead of being, as it was at common law, a misdemeanour.
At the beginning of the 19th century felony was almost equivalent to capital crime; but during that century capital punishment was abolished as to all felonies, except wilful murder, piracy with violence (7 W. and 1 Vict.
That the costs of prosecuting all felonies (except treason felony) are paid out of public funds: and that a felon may be condemned to pay the costs of his prosecution and to compensate up to ioo for any loss of property suffered by any person through or by means of the felony.
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