California targets organized retail crime
A package of 10 new laws takes aim at a range of organized retail crime activities in the state of California.
The laws, designed to provide tougher criminal penalties for repeat offenders and additional tools for felony prosecutions, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed the bills w. Specifically, they are intended to bolster ongoing efforts to hold criminals accountable for crimes such as smash-and-grab robberies, property crime, retail theft, and auto burglaries.
Features of the new laws include:
- Imposes stricter penalties for individuals involved in retail and property theft, mandates sentencing enhancements for large-scale operations, and creates new crimes with enhanced felony charges and extended prison sentences.
- Strengths existing laws allow police to arrest retail theft suspects with probable cause, even if they didn’t witness a crime in progress.
- Permits the aggregation of stolen goods, enabling prosecutors to combine the value of multiple stolen items across different victims and counties to help meet the threshold for felony grand theft.
- Creates new penalties for criminals who damage businesses and property in the course of theft.
- Maintains the organized retail law which would have expired on Jan. 1, 2026.
In April 2024, the state of New York passed a similar set of legal initiatives to crack down on organized retail theft and protect frontline retail workers.
"Let’s be clear, this is the most significant legislation to address property crime in modern California history," Newsom said in an official statement. "I thank the bipartisan group of lawmakers, our retail partners, and advocates for putting public safety over politics. While some try to take us back to ineffective and costly policies of the past, these new laws present a better way forward — making our communities safer and providing meaningful tools to help law enforcement arrest criminals and hold them accountable."
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California’s penalties for retail crime include up to three years of jail time for organized retail theft. The state says it has the 10th toughest threshold nationally for prosecutors to charge suspects with a felony, $950. 40.
