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As a foreigner, though a frequent watcher of American crime shows: what exactly is a misdemeanor, and why is it bad that stealing is one? What changed when it w

• josephcsible 5y ago
  The short answer is that misdemeanors are crimes that aren't that bad (e.g., trespassing), and felonies are crimes that are really bad (e.g., kidnapping). Felonies carry stricter sentences than misdemeanors. By saying that stealing up to $950 worth of product per day is only a misdemeanor, a lot of the deterrent effect goes away.
  • scottlamb 5y ago
    And besides that, I've heard many times recently [1] that police and/or courts do not enforce misdemeanor property crimes at all. So it's not just that it's only a fine but rather that there are believed to be no consequences at all. I don't understand why. I hear talk about "priorities". Perhaps it's true that it's not "worth" enforcing these because the people responsible don't have any money to pay fines. But on the other hand, I don't think police actually got defunded, so if they've de-prioritized a major chunk of their job, what are they doing instead? I have basically no idea. Extra public safety things during the pandemic? It'd be nice to think they're doing a better job closing felonies but I haven't heard any evidence of that. Are they sitting around doing nothing? I almost hope they are; my more pessimistic take is that they now can really spend extra quality time harassing minorities... [1] meaning it seems widely believed, correctly or not
• stingrae 5y ago
  In this case a misdemeanor for the theft of less than $950 is handled with a ticket and fine. There is no jail time and they go free after the ticket is handed over.