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Larceny

Larceny is another name for theft and is defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI's) Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) as “the unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another.” Larceny is a common law offense that evolved in the royal courts of England to punish nonviolent property offenses. The larceny laws were adopted in the United States and remain in effect, although many states have adopted the term theft instead.

Larceny is the most common of the eight major offenses categories that the FBI calls Part I crimes and is also the least reported crime, probably due to the typically small dollar loss involved in many cases. However, larceny may involve thefts of as little as a few dollars to millions of dollars. The UCR lists the following offenses as larcenies: thefts from motor vehicles, shoplifting, thefts from buildings, thefts of motor vehicles parts and accessories, bicycle thefts, thefts from coin-operated machines, purse snatching, and pocket picking. Because the definition of larceny is so broad, the UCR program uses it to categorize a range of thefts not otherwise defined in the system.

The terms theft and larceny are often viewed interchangeably, but each state has its own specific theft or larceny statute with corresponding degrees of penalties. California, for example, has consolidated the terms under the California Penal Code, which specifies that laws using the terms larceny, embezzlement, or stealing should be read as if they contain the term theft. Accordingly, the California Penal Code treats larceny similarly to theft.

Sources of Data

Information about the nature and extent of crime (one category of which includes larceny/theft) is derived from two major sources: the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) published annually by the FBI and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) published annually by the Census Bureau. These two data sources provide different types of information.

The UCR gathers crime data from 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies based on offenses that come to the attention of law enforcement. The UCR also reports arrest data for specified crimes. The UCR reports its findings annually in a publication titled Crime in the United States. The UCR is often referred to as the official crime report for the nation.

The second major source of crime data is found in the NCVS produced by the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Twice a year, U.S. Bureau of the Census personnel interview household members in a nationally representative sample of approximately 43,000 households (about 76,000 people). Approximately 150,000 interviews of persons of age 12 or older are conducted annually.

Due to the different methods of collecting data and the various idiosyncratic reporting guidelines in each, the total number of offenses reported by each survey is significantly different. Comparison of the UCR and the NCVS indicate that many crimes go unreported. For example, the UCR reported 10,222,664 total crimes in the United States in 2010. The NCVS analyzes victim data, rather than reported crimes or arrests, and estimated the total offenses at 18,725,710 in 2010, 54% greater than the UCR. Although the UCR has little utility in measuring the true extent of crime, it does provide a reasonably accurate picture of longitudinal patterns of crime.

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