Larceny is the traditional common-law offense of taking and carrying away another person's personal property without consent and with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of it, the historical root offense from which modern theft statutes largely descend. Many common-law jurisdictions have since consolidated larceny with related offenses, such as embezzlement and obtaining property by false pretenses, into a single broader statutory theft offense, while others, notably several jurisdictions within the United States, continue to use larceny as the operative statutory term, typically graded into petty (or petit) larceny and grand larceny according to the value of the property taken. The line between petty and grand larceny, and the corresponding difference between a lesser misdemeanor charge and a more serious felony charge, is one of the most consequential monetary thresholds in property-crime law, since it substantially affects the potential penalty and, in many systems, whether the case is tried summarily or before a jury. Larceny remains a foundational category in criminal-law scholarship and criminal justice statistics as the baseline non-violent property-taking offense against which robbery, requiring force or threat, and burglary, requiring unlawful entry, are conceptually distinguished.
Facts
Classification CodeLarceny is graded into felony and misdemeanor tiers by the monetary value of the property taken, a threshold each jurisdiction sets for itself; North Carolina, for example, requires the state to prove the stolen property's value exceeded $400 for a felony larceny conviction, with anything at or below that amount punishable only as a misdemeanor. 2 Typical PenaltyLarceny's penalty scales with both the value taken and the jurisdiction's own grading scheme: New York grades its parallel grand larceny offense into four increasingly severe felony degrees by dollar value, from over $1,000 up to over $1,000,000, with sentence severity rising directly with the degree charged, while anything below a state's felony threshold, such as North Carolina's $400 line, is punished only as a misdemeanor. 3 Elements of OffenseLarceny requires the unlawful taking and carrying away of another person's personal property, without the owner's consent, done with the specific intent to permanently deprive the owner of it; a taking without that intent to permanently deprive does not satisfy the offense. 2 Notable ExampleIn the 1987 case State v. White, the Supreme Court of North Carolina held that larceny is a lesser included offense of armed robbery and confirmed the state's own $400 felony threshold for larceny. 2 Jurisdiction VariationThe dollar threshold separating felony grand larceny from misdemeanor petit larceny varies widely by state: North Carolina sets it at $400, California's parallel grand theft threshold is $950, and New York's grand larceny threshold is $1,000, which then rises through four graduated felony degrees up to takings in excess of $1,000,000. 3 Classification
Offense GradeMinor or Summary Offense 1 Connections
Associated With
Source Wikipedia: Rational Choice Theory (Criminology)
Source Cornell LII Wex: Robbery
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
Sources
1. Larceny (Wikipedia)
Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larceny, lead paragraphQuote, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larceny, lead paragraph
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business.
2. Cornell LII Wex: Larceny
Cornell Law School, Legal Information InstituteClassification, North Carolina example
in order to convict of felony larceny the State must prove beyond reasonable doubt that value of stolen property exceeded $400, or the larceny is punishable only as a misdemeanor.
Definition, opening sentence
Larceny is a crime at common law that refers to the illegal taking of the property of another with intent to deprive the owner thereof.
Notable case
in the 1987 case of State v. White, the Supreme Court of North Carolina held that larceny is a lesser included offense of armed robbery, and in order to convict of felony larceny the State must prove beyond reasonable doubt that value of stolen property exceeded $400, or the larceny is punishable only as a misdemeanor.
View the Source 3. Cornell LII Wex: Grand Theft
Cornell Law School, Legal Information InstituteState threshold comparison
Grand Theft is committed when an individual steals property or services valued at more than $950
Grading by degree
The more severe the charge, the more severe the possible sentence.
View the Source Cornell LII Wex: Robbery
Associated With: Robbery, Introductory sectionQuote, Associated With: Robbery, Introductory section
Because robbery involves violent force or the threat of such force, it is considered a more serious crime than other similar theft crimes, such as larceny (which does not require such force), for example.
Wikipedia: Rational Choice Theory (Criminology)
Associated With: Rational Choice Theory, Types of crime sectionQuote, Associated With: Rational Choice Theory, Types of crime section
Instrumental crimes ... include such offenses as tax evasion, traffic violations, corporate crime, larceny and sexual assault.
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