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Theft and Property Crimes
Property crimes can include:
Criminal Mischief - Criminal Trespass - Burglary - Robbery |
Theft crimes can include:
Issuing Bad Checks - Theft of Service - Dealing in Stolen Property |
Shoplifting - Theft by deception or false pretenses |
The ranges of punishment for these types of offense are determined by: 1) the value of the property taken, 2) the value of the property damaged, or 3) whether the crime occurred in connection with a violent act.
“White Collar Crimes” and Specialized Crimes
These types of offenses are usually theft or fraud cases, but the act of committing the crime is more sophisticated and complex. Additionally, persons who are accused of committing these types of offenses do not fit the stereotypical criminal profile; they tend to be corporate executives or mid-level managers, usually college educated. All have one thing in common – they had access to financial records.
Most of these crimes happen “on paper,” which entails large values of documents, records, and transactions; some of which may have occurred over a period of years. Many of these crimes are associated with federal prosecution; however, in the recent wake of corporate scandals and mortgage real estate frauds, many State prosecutors' offices have established specialized divisions to investigate and prosecute these offenses.
The unique element in some of these cases is that the person accused may have unfortunately accidentally committed the offense. Despite the perception that many of these persons are educated and intelligent, they may have been trained to do their job in a way that meets a criminal definition.
Because of the sophisticated and complex nature of these cases, a person accused would benefit from a criminal defense lawyer with experience in these specialized divisions. |
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