Targets shoplifters who steal an aggregate of more than $900
By Norah White
Lawmakers are weighing a bill to punish repeat shoplifters who otherwise would only face a string of misdemeanors — a move to discourage rising retail theft and clear court backlogs the state has been facing since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The bill, H.534, passed the House last month and is now being discussed in the Senate — one step closer to becoming law, though senators are looking at an alternative way to curb the same problem.
Currently, if someone steals less than $900 worth of merchandise from a store, a misdemeanor, they face up to $500 in fines and six months in prison. Someone who shoplifts more than $900 worth of goods, a felony, faces up to $1,000 in fines and 10 years in prison. To avoid risking the felony while still stealing more than $900 worth of merch in a short span, a clever thief could shoplift $899 in goods from one store, then do the same at another.
If the combined value of the stolen goods exceeds $900, an offender would face the same level of fines and imprisonment as the current felony.
The change would have a couple predicted effects, backers say: clearing court system backlogs and discouraging repeat shoplifters.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020, judges and attorneys have been working through a large backlog of cases, said Rep. William Notte, D-Rutland, one of the sponsors of the bill.
Because of the backlogs, there have been instances where a person could rack up multiple retail theft charges in the timeframe before their court date, Notte said.
Notte, who manages Phoenix Books in Rutland, says it is disheartening to see or hear about shoplifting.
“It’s also very disheartening for the general public who sees or hears about the same individuals disrupting their community,” Notte said.
He said the bill could discourage repeat offenders who right now may only face “several slaps on the wrist with the misdemeanor charge.”
Retail theft in Vermont is up from pre-pandemic levels, according to FBI data presented in a report to legislators. In 2019 there were 2,022 incidents of retail theft, compared to 2,416 in 2022, the memo says.
Another report given to lawmakers shows about 58% of repeat retail theft offenders were charged with a new retail theft offense within 30 days of their first charge, based on data from the Vermont Judiciary spanning 2018 to 2023. Most of the new offenses came within 10 days of the first, according to the report.
On average, people convicted of misdemeanor retail theft served about 11 days at minimum, according to the report on Vermont Judiciary data. Those convicted of the felony served an average minimum of just over 7 ½ months, the report says.
The bill is now in the Senate Committee on Judiciary, where lawmakers are considering a slightly different approach. An amendment by Sen. Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden-Central, would split the penalty for stealing less than $900 worth of merchandise and scrap the two-week timespan.
First-time offenders would face up to $500 in fines and 30 days in prison. Second-time offenders would face up to $1,000 and six months. By someone’s third offense, the fine would increase to $1,500 max, and they’d face up to three years in prison. Upon a fourth offense, a person would face up to $2,500 and 10 years in prison.
The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.
Categories: Legislation, State Government
Let’s see if Vermont has the backbone to stop the nonsense, and we see H.534 come to fruition, but I’m not holding my breath !!
Business owners should be camped out on the steps of the Golden Doom, yes Doom
all we get out of Montpelier is that until our legislators wake up, those who vote against this bill must be voted out.
It’s interesting that most of the antisocial behavior of late is conveniently blamed on or associated with “the pandemic”. We can certainly blame the abysmal employment market and high inflation on our government’s RESPONSE TO the wuhan flu. However, the phenomenon of the widespread thumbing of noses at law and order should more appropriately be correlated with the leftist plan to cut back on police and prosecution after the death of George Floyd, allegedly at the hands of police. Ultimately it is the majority of voters of Vermont, particularly in Chittenden County who have decided that society can get along just fine using the honor system. The combination of rampant shoplifting and thin staffing makes it inconvenient when you want to purchase men’s underwear and socks at the Walmart and you have to wait for a store clerk to let you inside the plexiglass case. Howz that honor system working out?
George Floyd died while resisting arrest. The 4 cops involved had no hope of a fair trial, and the nation as a whole developed an anti law enforcement psychosis that we are still dealing with today. Watch ‘Minneapolis is falling’ if you are interested in truth.
“The Fall of Minneapolis” documentary on youtube:
IF you steal $1,000 of items and you are working on a 10% margin, you have to sell another $10,000 of product to pay for the item stolen. That’s before you can make ANY money.
The theft in Chittenden county alone is on an epic scale, NEVER before seen in Vermont. I’ve seen it firsthand, I still can’t believe it. Many, many of the customers are upset about it too.
Chittenden county is leading the way in theft and it’s promotion, it is seeping into the rest of our state rapidly.
How about this, get caught stealing, get tazed. It will happen once and only once.
And if you are going to fine someone for stealing, for God’s sake at least make it a deterrent to do it in the first place, if it’s not 3-4x the purchase price, it’s a good cost benefit ratio to steal. Perhaps it should be 5x the amount, making the assumption of 20% margin and they get to feel the pain of which they were inflicting upon others….
If we make such that crime doesn’t pay, literally, we might be better off.
This process conveniently puts theft on the backs of all bricks and mortar shops…….and benefits those who only use warehouse and internet. Think centralized control.
Don’t think for a moment this isn’t part of a plan to have everything centralized and controlled.
Just think if Bezo and Amazon had control of every sale….this is a Marxist, communist, fascist, socialists dream come true. Just have a few people controlling everything, just like they control the electricity and water in Cuba…..keeps the people humble, subservient……euphemisms for vassals and slaves of the state.
And suddenly without anyone being aware all the bricks and mortars close and only a few online distribution centers can deliver goods………it’ll get real interesting then.
btw….those statistics have to totally fake or at least not inline with reality on the ground.
Any major retailer in Chittenden county will likely tell you there is a theft every single day they are open. This would be for just Sierra Trading, LL Bean and one Walmart…….there are many more stores and many more locations. This is not even remotely accurate to the losses experienced on the ground.
We need to get real about this. 10 minutes with any manager of any major store will verify that my statement is far more accurate than this fbi statistic.
Very true. Staff at one supermarket says they are hit multiple times a day and management does not want the police contacted.
new york city the imported gangs are stealing the products and selling them on the streets////// one hundred percent profit/// stay out of new york city if you can///
Fines won’t work, prison no, but work camps, public humiliation, and community service may well as well as mandatory moral counseling. Another idea, confiscate their cell phones or maybe better, remove their privacy.
Real, personal consequences, will shake up the low life. There was a lot to be said for putting people in stocks, and even flogging. Real modern consequences, will shift the logic to do criminal acts.
So, decriminalize drugs to empty the prisons, leading to an overabundance in the community. Then invite scared, needy people to move here without anywhere for them to go. They get hooked onto the drugs. Then, string them along just enough not to meet their needs but just enough to make them feel beholdened. Then, when those people who don’t know how to handle the handed-out resources, they shoplift. Not ROB the register, but steal items they can’t afford. And now we are circled back to throwing people into prison for felonies again.
Remember the store detective at Ames? It would be great if each Big Lots and similar stores had one, but I’d imagine that what these stores can write off as a result of theft nowadays makes having a store detective cost prohibitive.
Even confronting shoplifters by employees is prohibited by management. I kind of get that in terms of not putting employees and customers at risk of harm, but shoplifters pretty much have carte blanche to brazenly walk in and out of the store without paying for the merchandise they just pilfered.
Once again, an example of a society which is increasingly influenced by a demonic Marxist oppressed/oppressor/victim mentality which encourages immoral and criminal behavior, while discouraging justice, personal responsibility, accountability, and wrong behavior receiving swift and stern consequences.
One of the most famous Catholic saints of the last century, St Pio otherwise known as Padre Pio, was a Capuchin priest in Italy with many spiritual gifts including stigmata. Someone said to him once that he did not believe hell existed. St Pio replied, “You will believe when you get there.”
I don’t know why our uppity lawmakers don’t just take them all into their own homes since they are the ones who say they truly understand them all.
My suggestion is to remove these lawmakers and place them as psyche ward supervisors in their own homes with the people they understand so well. Their belief system should work after a few months or so. And everyone else who feels they know how to handle it, they too can house these folks and give them everything they need to help them become better citizens.
This thing with paying politicians to make other people do and pay for stuff is not working out.
Went to the Price Chopper in Burlington for the first time in a while the other day and watched as managers were monitoring multiple thieves in the store while they helped themselves to whatever they wanted like a free buffet. The police aren’t being called, so there’s no way the already dismal theft crime stats are accurate. It’s wayyy worse. If you don’t hold people accountable it all breaks down.