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With Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s signing of a package of 10 bills last week, California has a new suite of tools to fight organized retail crime and other property theft, while holding on to criminal justice reforms that the governor says have clamped down on recidivism and saved the state billions.<\/p>\n
According to Newsom, the California Retailers Association was instrumental in developing the package and getting it to his desk, or, more accurately, a makeshift work surface set up at a Home Depot location in San Jose. CRA President Rachel Michelin, speaking alongside the governor and several other stakeholders, said work on the legislation was cooperative, but that the problem was brought to legislative leaders and law enforcement by retailers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe worked collaboratively. And I’ll say I was able to rethink the way I approach this issue, and I think I was able to have them rethink how they approach this issue,\u201d Michelin said.\u00a0\u201cRetailers have never been about mass incarceration or that type of mentality. We’ve always wanted to be part of the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n
What the new laws do<\/h3>\n
The new legislation tackles not just retail theft, but also other property theft and damage, including auto theft. Broadly speaking, related to retail crime, the law focuses on online marketplaces and repeat offenders, gives law enforcement and prosecutors more leeway and puts cargo theft <\/strong>in focus.<\/p>\nThe National Retail Federation and Retail Industry Leaders Association, which have both focused on retail crime in recent years, declined to comment on the new laws, referring Retail Dive to the CRA.<\/p>\n
Specifically, per a fact sheet from the governor\u2019s office, under the legislation:<\/p>\n
\n- Prosecutors can bundle the value of stolen property from different retailers or jurisdictions to reach the $950 \u201cfelony grand theft\u201d threshold. Thefts and related offenses from different counties can be tried together.<\/li>\n
- A person can be arrested for shoplifting even if an officer didn\u2019t witness the act.<\/li>\n
- Probation for shoplifting or petty theft is extended from one year to two.<\/li>\n
- Courts can issue \u201cretail theft restraining orders\u201d that would ban anyone \u201cconvicted of organized retail theft, shoplifting, theft, vandalism, or assault of a retail employee from entering the establishment for up to two years.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Retailers can\u2019t be cited or fined for repeated theft reports.<\/li>\n
- Anyone \u201cpossessing more than $950 of stolen goods with intent to sell, exchange, or return the goods\u201d now faces up to three years in jail, and prosecutors needn\u2019t prove the defendants knew those goods were stolen.<\/li>\n
- Sentencing is enhanced for \u201clarge-scale resale of property.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Online marketplaces must collect information on \u201chigh-volume third-party sellers.”<\/li>\n
- The state\u2019s existing organized retail theft law and its regional property crimes task forces, which were scheduled to sunset, were made permanent.<\/li>\n
- Cargo theft, as related to retail crime, now includes railroads, according to Michelin.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cAll of these things in this package is going to help retailers, law enforcement and district attorneys be able to provide the consequences for the behaviors that we need to make sure people don’t continue doing this behavior, which is what we’ve always needed,\u201d Michelin said.<\/p>\n
What the new laws don\u2019t do<\/h3>\n
The new legislation doesn\u2019t go as far as Prop 36,\u00a0a referendum that California voters will consider in November,\u00a0in stiffening penalties for retail theft.<\/p>\n
The detail gaining the most attention \u2014and even some notoriety in the 2024 presidential election \u2014 is that California now categorizes thefts of goods worth less than $950 as misdemeanors.\u00a0Contrary to popular belief, that limit is among the lowest in the nation, according to a July report on retail crime from the Little Hoover Commission,\u00a0an independent oversight agency in California.<\/p>\n
Prop 36 would recategorize lower-level thefts as a felony for people with prior convictions and allow for more extensive prison sentences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That comes with some consequences, according to Newsom and others. Prop 36 could add \u201ctens of millions of dollars\u201d to local criminal justice system costs each year, while eliminating savings associated with existing law, according to a fiscal analysis of Prop 36 conducted by the state\u2019s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office. Worse, though, it interferes with successful criminal justice reforms that have not only saved money but also helped people turn away from crime, Newsom said.<\/p>\n
Michelin didn\u2019t immediately respond to questions about whether the CRA supports Prop 36, as many individual retailers in the state do.<\/p>\n
\u201cProp 36 takes it back to the 1980s war on drugs. Mass incarceration. Promotes a promise that can’t be delivered,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cI would ask those that support it, particularly mayors, where are the treatment slots? Where are the beds? … That initiative has nothing to do with retail theft.\u201d<\/p>\n
Numbers remain elusive<\/h3>\n
Both Gov. Newsom and CRA\u2019s Michelin characterized the slate of new laws as just a portion of work that is ongoing. Left unmentioned by everyone gathered for the bill signing is the financial cost of retail crime for the state\u2019s retailers.<\/p>\n
Since a Retail Dive report unearthing an error in a special report on retail crime from the NRF, which subsequently retracted a key statistic, the industry has shied away from quantifying the impact. In its report released last month, the Little Hoover Commission, anticipating that penal code and other changes in last week\u2019s legislation would become law, <\/strong>focused on the need for better data. The commission noted that it couldn\u2019t find data on organized retail crime, which is a focus of the industry.<\/p>\nThe commission recommends that state lawmakers:<\/p>\n
\n- Require and fund data collection \u201cto better understand the circumstances around crime and the people involved in it,\u201d including improved crime statistics; demographic data and circumstances surrounding retail crime offenses;\u00a0law enforcement response; prosecutors\u2019 actions and their consequences; \u201cand the offender\u2019s rehabilitation, reentry, and recidivism,\u201d among other details.<\/li>\n
- Work with universities and nonpartisan researchers to study retail theft to \u201cfill existing knowledge gaps and guide the development of future solutions.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The report also notes that reported retail theft is even with rates from the 2010s and lower than previous years; that little data is available; and that shrink rates reported by the industry \u201chave slightly increased over the past decade.\u201d Nationally, the NRF\u2019s annual reports show that shrink has remained steady for at least seven years.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\u201cCalifornia needs comprehensive data collection and analysis to better tackle retail theft and its impacts,\u201d the commission also said. \u201cCalifornia\u2019s Department of Justice has made a fine start in collecting criminal-justice related data, but this effort needs to be expanded significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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