Property Crimes

With this chapter, we begin to explore specific crimes. We will continue use the more general principles of culpability from earlier, including mens rea and grading.

In this section, we return to theft, build upon it to understand robbery, and delve deeper in burglary. But first, we begin with trespass. All property crimes, but trespass in particular, require us to articulate the values property crimes protect, including not only the value of the property, but one's feeling of safety, security, privacy, and autonomy.

Against these important values, we must weigh how much we really want to punish those who commit such crimes. Keep in mind that those who commit property crimes are very often drug addicts, stupid kids, or those who are simply mistaken and therefore not even guilty. Of course, there are others who are malicious and commit vandalism or arson indifferent to the harm to property or even human life, or the rich like Bernie Madoff who act out of limitless greed.

The cases that follow therefore require us to consider the role of the prosecutor in deciding whether to charge a certain crime and, if so, which grade. Should the prosecutor charge theft or robbery, for example, to appropriately capture the culpability of the defendant, even when both are technically available. In Sparks, we will see this same question arise, indirectly, in the number of charges available to bring.