From Taking to Deceiving: Property and Financial Offenses Compared

The baseline offense: taking and carrying away another person's property without consent and with intent to permanently deprive the owner. Larceny is graded by the value taken, so the line between petty and grand larceny decides whether a charge is a misdemeanor or a felony, and it is the offense against which robbery and burglary are distinguished.

Adds unlawful entry to the idea of theft. The common-law definition was breaking and entering the house of another at night with intent to commit a felony inside, whether or not it was carried out. Modern statutes dropped the nighttime and breaking requirements, so the core element is unauthorized entry with criminal intent.

Adds force or the threat of force. Confrontation with the victim is what separates robbery from larceny, which is why it is treated as a violent offense. In England and Wales robbery is triable only on indictment and carries a maximum of life imprisonment.

A named subtype of robbery in which a motor vehicle is taken, usually in the presence and knowledge of the victim. The United States Federal Anti-Car Theft Act of 1992, codified at 18 U.S.C. Section 2119, took effect on October 25, 1992 and was the first federal carjacking law.

The unattended counterpart to carjacking: stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle without confronting an occupant. Taking without owner's consent, a United Kingdom term, covers unauthorized use of a car short of theft.

Moves from the original taking to what happens afterward. The offense turns on knowledge. Under United States law, receiving differs from possession by when the person became aware the goods were stolen, and receipt of stolen property is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. Section 2315.

Property taken by someone who already lawfully holds it. Lawful initial possession is what distinguishes embezzlement from larceny. England and Wales absorbed it into the single offense of theft under the Theft Act 1968.

Deception replaces taking as the central act. The Fraud Act 2006, covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland, defines the offense in three classes: fraud by false representation, by failure to disclose information, and by abuse of position.

Deception aimed at a person's identifying information. In the United States the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act amended Title 18, section 1028, making it a federal crime to knowingly transfer, possess or use a means of identification of another person without lawful authority.

The closing stop: disguising the proceeds of any earlier offense on this path. Laundering unfolds in three stages, placement, layering and integration, and is a distinct federal offense under 18 U.S.C. Sections 1956 and 1957.