PROPERTY AND Chapter 7

RELATED CRIMES
 PROPERT Y CRIMES

 Crimes directed toward property rather than toward the

person
 Four major property crimes categorized by FBI
 Burglary
 Larceny-theft
 Motor vehicle theft
 Arson
 For less-serious property offenses, FBI only reports arrest data
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES

 Have declined between 2010 and 2014

 Dropped by 4.3% between 2013 and 2014
 Rate declined by 11.9% between 2010 and 2014
 Declined 24.3% between 2005 and 2014
 In first six months of 2015, reported offenses decreased by
4.2% compared to same months in 2014
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
LARCENY-THEFT
 Unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property
from possession of another with intent to steal
 Oldest common law theft crime
 Most frequently committed serious property crime
 Accounted for 70.8% in 2014
 Means stealing but there are variety of ways to steal
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
COMMON LAW LARCENY-THEFT
 Usually referred to only as larceny
 Was only type of theft punishable as crime
 Elements were interpreted narrowly
 Many acts considered theft today not included
 Elements stated carefully due to seriousness
 Sometimes carried death penalty
 Some judges reluctant to convict
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
ELEMENTS OF LARCENY-THEFT
1. A trespassory taking
2. A carrying away (asportation)
3. Of the personal property
4. Of another
5. With the intent to steal

 Under common law, all elements must be present

 Modern statutes make some exceptions
 LARCENY-THEFT ELEMENTS:
1. TRESPASSORY TAKING
 Phrase used in common law
 Referred to unlawful taking away of goods from owner’s possession
 Developed to deter people from committing thefts that might
cause personal retaliation
 Common law provided civil but not criminal remedies
 Complex societies saw necessity to expand to acts not
involving trespassory takings
 Developed fictions in which taking was assumed
 LARCENY-THEFT ELEMENTS:
1. TRESPASSORY TAKING
 Constructive possession
 Legal doctrine referring to condition of having power to control item,
along with having intent to do so
 Hufstetler v. State (Ala.Ct.App. 1953)
 Illustrates problems created
 Grand larceny
 Refers to the stealing of larger amounts
 Petit larceny
 Refers to the stealing of amounts smaller than required for grand
larceny
 LARCENY-THEFT ELEMENTS:
1. TRESPASSORY TAKING
 Larceny by trick
 Deceptively obtaining possession of goods from victim who
surrenders possession voluntarily and without knowledge of deceit
involved
 Established element of taking from possession of owner
 Another exception to actual possession requirement provided
problems
 Bailee
 Person to whom goods are entrusted
 Bailor
 Person who entrusts goods to bailee
 LARCENY-THEFT ELEMENTS:
1. TRESPASSORY TAKING
 New provisions needed
 First solution was rule that bailee could be convicted of larceny-theft
in some situations
 These and other fictions led to changes in law
 Some jurisdictions have separate crime of larceny by bailee
 Some have general crime called theft to cover all fact patterns
 LARCENY-THEFT ELEMENTS:
2. A CARRYING AWAY
 Goods must be carried away
 Asportation
 Moving thing or person from one place to another
 If person unsuccessful in taking article away, asportation
element is not complete
 Larceny-theft has not occurred
 LARCENY-THEFT ELEMENTS:
3. AND 4. PERSONAL PROPERT Y OF ANOTHER

 Article must be personal property of another person

 Excludes real and abandoned property, and wild animals
 Personal property
 Under common law only referred to tangible personal property
 Today, some statutes include trees and other items
 Do not require separate acts of severance and theft
 Some modern statutes cover theft of services
 LARCENY-THEFT ELEMENTS:
5. WITH THE INTENT TO STEAL
 Defendant must have had intent to deprive owner of property
 People v. Brown (Cal. 1984)
 California Supreme Court emphasized common law position that
intent required for larceny-theft must be intent to deprive owner of
property permanently
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
MODERN THEFT CODES
 Most common law elements are retained in modern theft
statutes
 Common law frequently used to interpret them
 Recently, some jurisdictions have enacted legislation more
specific than common law larceny -theft
 Usually use term theft
 Some jurisdictions now include theft of services under special
statute
 Others have included in expansion of regular statute
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
MODERN THEFT CODES
 Another modern approach is to combine all, if not most, theft-
related crimes into one crime of theft
 Texas Statute
 A frequently committed type is shoplifting
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
BURGLARY
 Similar to but distinct from larceny -theft
 Refers to breaking and entering of an enclosed structure
without consent and with intent to commit a felony therein
 Does not require an actual theft
 Is an offense against habitation and occupancy
 Is distinguished from robbery
 In 2014, burglary constituted 20.9% of the four serious
property offenses
 Most were residential burglaries
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
COMMON LAW BURGLARY-ELEMENTS
1. A breaking and entering
2. Of the dwelling of another
3. During the nighttime
4. With intent to commit a felony therein

 Breaking and entering did not require destruction of any part

of property in order to enter
 Did require “breaking, removing, or putting aside of something
material, which constitutes part of dwelling house, and is relied on as
security against intrusion”
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
COMMON LAW BURGLARY-ELEMENTS
 Emphasis on security is important
 Under some circumstances it was argued that constructive
force sufficient to constitute breaking had occurred
 Breaking had to involve a trespass
 Crime referring to entering or remaining unlawfully in or on premises of
another under certain circumstances
 In addition, entry must have been accomplished by means of the
breaking
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
COMMON LAW BURGLARY-ELEMENTS
 Requirement of entry could be satisfied if any part of person
entered
 Could also be accomplished by use of a tool
 Under common law burglary limited to acts that occurred
within the home, or dwelling
 Usually place where someone slept regularly
 Regular sleeping was critical to this element
 Included within definition of dwelling were pertinent buildings
falling within cur tilage
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
COMMON LAW BURGLARY-ELEMENTS
 Curtilage
 Enclosed ground and buildings immediately surrounding dwelling
place or house
 May also include grounds not enclosed, but are considered part of
the area
 Dwelling must be place of another, not one’s own home
 Common law also included requirement of act being
committed during night
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
COMMON LAW BURGLARY-ELEMENTS
 Common law also required intent to commit a felony
 Any felony would suffice
 Was sufficient if intent was there but no felony actually took place
 If person entered dwelling without intent to commit a felony
and once inside decided to commit a felony, he or she might
be convicted of said felony, not burglary
 Intent must be present at time of unlawful breaking and entering
 Intent must be to commit a felony
 Intent to commit a misdemeanor is not sufficient
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
STATUTORY BURGLARY
 Crime is covered today by statute
 Most, if not all, elements are retained in modern statutes
 Some with modification
 Most statutes no longer require a breaking
 Illegal entrance may be sufficient
 Some statutes are specific with regard to structure involved
 Some list them specifically
 Most expand common law requirement of dwelling to include any
structure
 May provide greater penalties for those who burglarize dwellings
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
STATUTORY BURGLARY
 Distinction between night and day retained in some statutes
 Others eliminate or only make relevant in punishment
 Some statutes define grades of burglary
 Others classify as degrees
 Not all jurisdictions permit multiple convictions
 Some have restrictions
 Some have enacted new statutes to cover entry of dwelling for
purposes of committing a robbery
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT
 Common law did not have a statute to cover
 Modern statutes differ in definition
 FBI distinguishes theft from and theft of motor vehicles
 Most jurisdictions cover this crime by general theft statutes
 Others retain specific statutes
 Some distinguish between motor vehicle theft and joyriding
 Estimated total loss was $4.5 billion in 2014
 Average of $6,537 per offense
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
ARSON
 Any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or
without intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building,
motor vehicle or aircraft, or personal property of another
person
 Some statutes include burning of one’s own property if done
with intent to defraud
 First classified by FBI as serious property crime in 1978
 Is a serious crime but can be difficult to acquire evidence for
convictions
 Under common law, at times carried penalty of death by
burning
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
COMMON LAW ARSON-ELEMENTS
1. The malicious burning
2. Of the dwelling
3. Of another

 Malicious burning
 Perpetrator must have a criminal intent
 Negligence was not sufficient
 Fire resulting from commission of another crime was not
arson
 Nor was burning one’s own dwelling
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
COMMON LAW ARSON-ELEMENTS
 Criminal intent requirement did not require malice toward
property owner or property in question
 Required either intent to burn dwelling, knowledge fire would burn
dwelling, or setting fire without excuse or justification that created
obvious hazard to dwelling of another
 Requirement of burning did not mean completely
 Requirement of dwelling was identical to that of common law
burglary
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
STATUTORY ARSON
 Some jurisdictions retain common law definition
 Others have expanded crime
 Some eliminate requirement of actual burning
 Must be shown actor had intent to damage or destroy structure
 Statutes may also include burning of trees, especially forests
 Some states have individual statutes aimed at specific
structures
 North Carolina
 SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
STATUTORY ARSON
 Statutes may also specify degrees of arson
 New York
 In recent years, long-held beliefs concerning alleged “science”
of arson have been questioned
 American Bar Association
 Reported in 2015 scores of wrongful convictions resulted from problems
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES

 FBI also compiles data on less-serious property crimes

 Term less-serious does not mean offenses have lesser
economic impact on society or immediate victims
 These crimes may not arouse fear and anger that occur with
burglary or larceny -theft
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
EMBEZZLEMENT
 Acts defined today were not included in common law larceny -
theft
 Statutory requirements were necessary
 Refers to misappropriation or misapplication of money or
property entrusted to one’s care, custody, or control
 Requires conversion
 Process of using property or goods of another for one’s own use and
without permission
 Is an interference with owners property, not merely movement
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
EMBEZZLEMENT
 Some statutes define property in same way as larceny -theft
 Others define crime more broadly
 Some statutes do not distinguish from larceny -theft
 Some have separate statute to cover acts by public officials
 Makes penalties more severe
 Convictions do not always result in severe penalties
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
FRAUD
 Falsely representing fact, either by conduct or by words or
writing, in order to induce person to rely on misrepresentation
and surrender something of value
 Crime has many types
 Difficult to generalize
 Avco Financial Ser vices v. Foreman-Donovan (Mont. 1989)
 Court articulated general elements of fraud
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
FRAUD ELEMENTS
1. A representation
2. Its falsity
3. Its materiality
4. Speakers knowledge of its falsity or ignorance of its truth
5. Speakers intent that it should be acted upon by person and
in manner reasonably contemplated
6. Hearer’s ignorance of its falsity
7. Hearer’s reliance upon its truth
8. Right of hearer to rely upon it
9. Hearer’s consequent and proximate injury or damage
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
FRAUD AGAINST THE ELDERLY
 Elderly persons significantly more likely to be targeted for
fraud than other age groups
 Estimates run as high as $3 billion a year
 Often easy targets for fraud scams
 Willing to “invest” saving and other assets in order to make promised
“big bucks”
 Some respond to online alleged suitors
 Elderly are attractive to con artists for number of reasons
 Many jurisdictions paying more attention to scams targeting
elderly
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
MORTGAGE FRAUD
 FBI definition
 Material misstatement, misrepresentation, or omission relied on by
underwriter or lender to fund, purchase, or insure a loan
 Defined as loan origination fraud
 Also includes schemes targeting consumers
 Not uncommon for one or more defendants to be convicted of
multiple charges, including various crimes
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
MAIL AND WIRE FRAUD
 Most frauds prosecuted in state courts
 Federal statutes necessary to cover fraud across state lines
 Federal mail fraud statute passed in 1872
 Oldest statute covering crimes traditionally considered to be state
problems
 Development and use of modern technology have created
greater need for federal laws
 Wire fraud statute enacted in 1952
 Provides same penalties as mail fraud statute
 Using wire, radio, or television communications in interstate or
foreign commerce for purpose of fraud
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
MAIL AND WIRE FRAUD
 Statutes constitute important tool in government’s efforts to
combat white-collar crime
 Are broad and flexible
 Congress added section on bank fraud in 1984
 Provides for sanctions against writing checks with insufficient funds
as well as crimes associated with failure of banks and other financial
institutions
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
MAIL AND WIRE FRAUD ELEMENTS
1. Scheme or artifice formed with intent to defraud
2. Using or causing mails or wires to be used
3. In furtherance of the scheme

 Prosecution not required to show scheme was successful or

even that victims suffered losses
 Only need specific intent to defraud
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
MAIL AND WIRE FRAUD ELEMENTS
 To satisfy use requirement there must be evidence either mail
or wire was actually used and use was reasonably foreseeable
result of defendant’s actions
 Final element does not require mail of wire be essential to
scheme
 Only that either or both are useful to defendant or closely related to
scheme
 Recent convictions
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
HEALTH CARE FRAUD
 One of the high priorities for federal prosecutors in recent
years
 May be related to:
 Double billing
 Quality of provided care
 Billing for unnecessary care
 Billing for services not provided
 Cases typically brought against those involved in health care
industry
 Government programs are easy targets for scams
 Fraud can occur at all levels
 Concern led to creation of this type of fraud as a new federal
crime in 1996
 States may also have statutes
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
SECURITIES FRAUD
 Exchange of securities is highly regulated business in United
States
 Securities
 Stocks, bonds, notes, and other documents that are representative of
a share in a company or debt of a company
 Two federal statutes used most frequently for prosecution of
violations
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
SECURITIES FRAUD
 Securities Act of 1933
 Requires registration of securities that are to be sold to public
 Securities and Exchange Act of 1934
 Regulates operation of over-the-counter trading and buying and
selling of stock
 Specifies information that must be published concerning stocks
listed on national securities exchanges
 These and others are administered by Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC)
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
SECURITIES FRAUD
 Securities statutes prohibit following
 Use of any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud
 Making of an untrue statement of facts material to buying and selling
of securities
 Omission of information that would result in misleading statement
 Acts that operate to defraud or deceive stock purchaser
 Intent is material element of crimes under these statutes
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
SECURITIES FRAUD
 Defendant must use interstate commerce through mail or
other methods
 Object of transaction in question must be a security as
defined by statutes
 Acts also provide administrative, civil, and criminal actions
and remedies
 Initial investigations conducted by SEC
 DOJ has sole jurisdiction to prosecute criminal violations
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
SECURITIES FRAUD
 Insider trading
 Illegal transaction where officers, directors, and stockholders who
own more than 10% of corporation’s stock listed on national
exchange, buy and sell corporate shares based on insider information
 DOJ has prosecuted numerous cases under securities statutes
 Purpose is to ensure individuals do not take advantage of said information
 Law has many gray areas regarding insider trading
 United States v. Newman (2d.Cir. 2015)
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
SECURITIES FRAUD
 Congress has passed Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and
Consumer Protection Act
 Constitutes greatest overhaul in regulation of U.S. financial
institutions since Great Depression
 Penalties for many corporate crimes increased by passing of
Sarbanese-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002
 Among other things:
 Contains new laws concerning obstruction of justice
 Interference with orderly processes of courts
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
SECURITIES FRAUD
 Is first and only federal statute to provide for whistle-blower
claims
 Claims that expose person, group, or business for engaging in illegal acts
 Directed U.S. Sentencing Commission to revise guidelines in
accordance with act and reconsider guidelines for all white-collar
crimes
 Completed in April of 2003
 Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Oversight Board
(2010)
 U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld constitutionality of SOX
 Split on issue of how members of oversight board can be removed
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
ACADEMIC AND RELATED FRAUD
 One area of fraud noted in recent years
 These types of fraud extend beyond academia into
government and surface in politics
 University of North Carolina in 2014
 Officials admitted and apologized for years they had “failed their
students”
 Can also be done in publication world
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
FALSE PRETENSE
 Refers to obtaining title to property by falsely representing
facts to owner with intent to defraud
 Crime was necessary to cover loophole in common law
larceny -theft
 General elements:
1. False representation of past or present fact
2. That causes victim
3. To pass title of property
4. To wrongdoer
5. Who
a) Knows representation to be false and
b) Thereby intends to defraud victim
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
FALSE PRETENSE
 Representation must be false at same time property is
obtained
 Traditionally, had to relate to past or present but not to future fact
 Current trend is to consider false promises or other false statements
of future intentions
 False representation must cause victim to pass to wrongdoer
title of property and the title must be passed
 Generally statutes require misrepresentation be made
knowingly or with intent to defraud
 Element must occur at same time as transfer of title
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
FORGERY
 Falsely making or altering, with intent to defraud, a
negotiable and legally enforceable instrument
 Similar to false pretense
 Both require intent to defraud
 Forgery is complete even when potential victim is not
defrauded of money or property
 Is associated in most cases with money or securities
 Some statutes provide writing false or bogus check is a felony
 Some require more than a certain amount and others require more
than one check be involved
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
STOLEN PROPERT Y: BUYING,
RECEIVING, POSSESSING
 Some thieves do not intend to use property they steal
 Some depend on a fence
 Person who receives stolen property from thief and in turn disposes of it in
profitable manner
 Others may sell stolen items to dealers
 Under common law, person receiving stolen property from
thief could not be charged with crime
 Crime of receiving stolen property has four elements
1. Receiving
2. Stolen property
3. Knowing it to be stolen
4. With intent to deprive owner of property
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
STOLEN PROPERT Y: BUYING, RECEIVING,
POSSESSING
 To sustain conviction prosecutor must prove all elements and
that knowledge, conduct, and criminal intent concurred in
time
 Element of receiving may be used or interpreted broadly
 Some jurisdictions specify types of receivers
 Provide greater penalties for them
 Some provide greater penalties for larger amounts as
compared to smaller amounts
 Some states divide criminal possession into degrees
 Can be covered by comprehensive theft statute
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
MALICIOUS MISCHIEF
 Malicious infliction of damage to or destruction of the
property of another
 Involves crime against property of another
 May target real property
 Some jurisdictions require destruction of property
 May be defined broadly in modern codes
 Can be graded by degrees or in terms of monetary loss by acts
in question
 Can be further classified based on intent
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
TRESPASS
 Involves entering or remaining unlawfully in or on premises of
another knowing one is not licensed or privileged to do so
 May be specified by statute
 Does not require destruction of property or intent to commit a
crime
 LESS SERIOUS PROPERT Y OFFENSES:
EXTORTION OR BLACKMAIL
 Limited under common law
 Been extended by many jurisdictions to include acts by private
individuals
 Extortion
 Obtaining property from another by wrongful use of actual or
threatened force, fear, or violence, or corrupt taking of a fee by
public officer, under color of office, when fee is not due
 Blackmail
 Usually associated with unlawful demand for money or something
else of value by threats to expose some embarrassing or
disgraceful allegation or fact about target, to accuse that person of
crime, or to do bodily harm or damage that person’s property
 COMPUTER CRIME

 Crime committed by use of the computer

 Criminals have developed programs that access, scramble, or
erase computer files and that aid in theft
 Cybercrime
 Crime committed by use of computers and the Internet
 Can involve many kinds of acts, ranging from creating viruses to
stealing music files to bullying
 T YPES OF COMPUTER CRIME

 Viruses and hacking

 Internet fraud
 Much involves identity theft
 Distribution of sexually explicit material
 CAN-SPAM Act
 Federal statute containing measures for eliminating unwanted spam on
computers and directing Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to adopt rule
requiring warning on sexually explicit spam
 Devices are also used for sending sexually explicit messages
and texting at inappropriate times and to inappropriate
persons
 See Focus 7.3
 Can also be used as instruments of violent crime
 CONTROLLING COMPUTER CRIME

 Prevention by educating computer users

 Through legislation
 Computer Crime Control Act
 Part of general revision of federal criminal code known as Comprehensive
Crime Control Act of 1984
 Cyber Security Enhancement Act of 2002
 USA Patriot Act
 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986
 Problems can occur in interpreting these acts
 Legislation also occurs at state level
 CONTROLLING COMPUTER CRIME

 Problems
 Legislation is not always solution to computer crimes
 As quickly as officials learn how to protect computers and detect
criminals, criminals learn new ways to commit crimes
 Identity theft issues
 Elonis v. United States (2015)
 IDENTIT Y THEFT: CHARACTERISTICS

 Stealing of individual’s Social Security number or other

important identity information and using that information to
commit crimes
 Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) provides a list of identifying
characteristics of victims
 Approximately 7% of respondents in a 2014 BJS survey
experienced some form of identity theft
 36% reported suffering moderate or severe emotional distress
associated as result of incidents
 One type is relatively new: house stealing
 IDENTIT Y THEFT:
STATE AND FEDERAL STATUTES
 Most state have statutes
 Vary significantly in coverage
 Federal system has lengthy statute
 Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Identification
Documents and Information
 Identities are easier to steal today due to cellphones
 Minnesota became first state in 2014 to enact statute requiring
cellphones and computerized tablets have “kill switches”
 CARJACKING

 Auto theft by force or threat of force

 Old crime, new name
 Has some aspects of larceny -theft and robbery
 Escalation of crimes has led to many states and federal
government to enact special statutes
 Federal statute includes attempts
 Penalties can be severe