Journal of Law and Criminal Justice

The Impact of California’s Felony Theft Threshold Law on Theft and Robbery
Danielle Rayon, Lisa Stolzenberg, PhD, Stewart J. D’Alessio, PhD

Abstract
We use an interrupted time series analysis to evaluate the effect of California’s felony theft threshold law on thefts of $400 and above (hereafter above $400) in eight of the largest California cities. Thefts under $400 act as a control series in the analysis because the law change did not impact these thefts. Maximum likelihood results show that California’s felony theft threshold law had little consequence in increasing thefts above $400 based on preexisting trends for all eight California cities. No noteworthy effect of the law was also observed for the eight cities combined or the state overall. The analysis also revealed that robberies did not rise markedly after the felony theft threshold law went into effect. A supplemental analysis further showed little impact of the law on the burglary rate. These findings challenge the veracity of the frequently proffered claim that lessening the severity of punishment for theft by raising the felony theft threshold will result in a rise in theft crimes.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jlcj.v12n1a2