Difference Between Theft and Shoplifting Charges in Stamford

There is not much of a difference between theft and shoplifting charges in Stamford. The way that it differs is that the types of evidence that will usually be available, like surveillance, actual records, receipts, and records of where the defendant was at a particular time.

These are more likely to be available on the shoplifting context than in other forms of larceny, because just about every store will have some form of surveillance or security. Whereas, a larceny that is committed under other circumstances may not have that type of evidence available, because it is not done in the place or in a way that that kind of evidence or surveillance was in place.

Distinguished theft lawyers have seen the presence of surveillance be helpful to a potential client. In a lot of instances, it is not helpful because it tends to show clearly that the crime has occurred and not relying on what somebody else says that could be a subject to a mistake.

Theft-Related Offenses

There is no difference between theft and shoplifting charges in Stamford when building a defense. The only thing is that in terms of presenting things that the defendant can do to help reduce the severity of the crime or reduce the necessity of punishment and focus more on rehabilitation is that the store will be looking for the person not to go there in the future and to be paid for the item that has been taken. The other thing is that whoever’s property is taken, the court, the prosecutor, and the alleged victim is going to be interested in being compensated for whatever is it that they lost.

It is unlikely that a person will be able to come up with some other sort of justification for having the property. That usually establishes whether the person intended to actually deprive the store of the piece of property. There may be circumstances where something is done unknowingly. However, if that is taken out of the equation, there is no confusion surrounding what the individual was intending to do when they chose not to pay for the piece of property. In the non-shoplifting context, the innocent explanation tends to be considered a possibility.

Why Would Someone Take Another Person’s Property?

There are a lot of reasons why somebody may have someone else’s piece of property. They might have borrowed it from another person. They might have been in a relationship together at one point, broke up and now the person wants his or her property back. The issue may arise sometime later and it may be a situation where the property initially was in the defendant’s possession rightfully and later became a wrongful possession.

It becomes a little more complicated and the circumstances are more likely to lend to a situation where there may be some other explanation that would negate the criminal elements in the case of a non-shoplifting theft. It is not available in the shoplifting context because the person does not have any other relationship with that store other than to go in and potentially buy goods.

Benefit of an Attorney

An attorney can help potential clients understand that there is not much of a difference between theft and shoplifting charges in Stamford. They can try to preserve the right types of evidence and by making sure to thoroughly investigate the circumstances. Understanding and taking the individual’s story is one piece of it, but an attorney will help establish that story through other means and other types of evidence that are objective if those things are available.

Having done these types of cases and thought through these problems on a number of occasions helps lawyers look for certain types of evidence. They know how to potentially find those pieces of evidence and use them to the client’s best advantage.

The other thing they do is help the client understand the process and what options are available to throughout the process so that he or she can make the most informed decisions about punishment to accept and what forms of punishment or rehabilitation may be available under the particular circumstances.