Organized Crime In The New Millennium

XVIII. Theft
In common usage, Theft is the taking of another person's property or services without
that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The
word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such
as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting, library theft, and fraud
(obtaining money under false pretenses). In some jurisdictions, theft is considered to be
synonymous with larceny; in others, theft has replaced larceny. Someone who carries
out an act of or makes a career of theft is known as a thief. The act of theft is also
known by other terms such as stealing, thieving, and filching.
Theft is the name of a statutory offence in California, Canada, England and Wales,
Hong Kong, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and the Australian states of South
Australia, and Victoria.
Elements
The actus reus of theft is usually defined as an unauthorized taking, keeping, or using of
another's property which must be accompanied by a mens rea of dishonesty and the
intent permanently to deprive the owner or rightful possessor of that property or its use.
For example, if X goes to a restaurant and, by mistake, takes Y's scarf instead of her
own, she has physically deprived Y of the use of the property (which is the actus reus)
but the mistake prevents X from forming the mens rea (i.e., because she believes that
she is the owner, she is not dishonest and does not intend to deprive the "owner" of it)
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