Typically arrests for retail theft, which includes theft of goods, result in low-level misdemeanor charges. Homelessness, substance use, food insecurity, and generally navigating poverty are all linked to retail theft. The criminal legal system often refers to retail theft charges as “low-level” or minor misdemeanors because they are non-violent crimes, not committed against people, and often for low priced goods.

Unfortunately, there is an enduring belief that there are not serious consequences from misdemeanor convictions – that it’s “not that big of a deal” to have a conviction for these charges. This thinking, common across criminal legal systems, leads to local authorities quickly arresting, charging, and convicting people. For individuals whose circumstances don’t change between arrests, this cycle between petty thefts and misdemeanor convictions, over time, recasts them into “habitual offenders” and then drastically changes how the criminal legal system treats them.

The Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (APA) and Justice System Partners (JSP) are partnering to pilot an alternative solution. Five prosecutor offices across the country are reconsidering prosecution of retail and implementing diversion programs which get to the root of why people steal. APA will help the offices develop their retail theft programs or expand current diversion programs to include individuals charged with retail theft. JSP will collect both implementation and outcome data to understand the impact of these programs on reducing retail theft and identify the core components of retail theft diversion programs.

This project presents an opportunity to work with prosecutors across the US to create a new national model to get to the root of why people steal. These programs have the potential to not only get people out of the system more quickly, but support them to never come through the criminal legal system’s revolving door, again.