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Every year in Canada, many types of crime occurred by criminals, especially theft. Theft means if you take someone’s property without permission or illegally.
In Canada, when you receive someone’s property unlawfully or without the owner’s license, you can be charged with a theft crime. However, the amount of money or wealth you have taken is also a factor to punish or define it as theft—for example, an amount of $5000. While in other countries like the US, the theft threshold can be as low as US$500, which means that petty crimes can easily become a stain on their criminal records. However, they can seek felony expungement attorneys to help them start afresh. So is theft under $5000 a criminal offence to punish big? Let’s know
In this article, we are about to discuss theft under 5000 a criminal offence.
Factors that can be considered as theft
You can be charged with theft for various reasons, but the prosecutor must prove that you are guilty. And to show you guilty of theft crime, the prosecutor must consider the following factors.
• The prosecutor must prove that you tried to or you moved someone’s property without the owner’s permission. It is not essential that the property is valuable or not.
• The prosecutor must prove that you moved someone’s property intending to steal the property without the owner’s consent.
• If you are guilty of theft, the prosecutor must be able to present the exact value that you tried to steal from the owner.
Nowadays, it’s too easy to prove you guilty if you have committed the crime. Almost every place has security cameras, and if the prosecutor has the footage that you committed the crime, then you can be charged with a theft crime.
So the question “Is it theft under 5000 criminal offence?” The answer is Yes. If you have committed such crime, you can be considered under 5000$ criminal offence, whether the property value costs 5000$ dollar or less.
The difference between theft under 5000$ and theft over 5000$
There are two types of theft charges, which are theft under 5000$ and theft over 5000$. These two types of charges theft are severe, which can lead to over ten years of a prison sentence.
If you are charged with theft under 5000$, you will be able to choose whether you want to prove yourself guilty. What if someone tries to convince you guilty even though you haven’t committed the crime.
The best thing you should do is hiring a good lawyer. The lowest punishment for the theft under 5000$ is six months of a prison sentence if you are charged with such crime.
Most people believe that the charges will be dropped because they haven’t stolen valuable goods, which is not right. Even though you haven’t taken useful things, you will be recorded as criminal because theft under 5000$ is considered a criminal offence.
The penalty for theft in Canada
If you have been found guilty of theft, you can receive various types of sentences from the court. Depending on many circumstances, you will get a deferent kind of punishment. The punishment can be severe or regular. Butalways remember once you are charged with theft even though it was your time, you will be recorded as a criminal.
The court will give you a sentence for a particular crime. But the court will consider the following factor while sentencing you.
• The court will sentence you depending on the value of the property that you have stolen.
• Trust issues. You have broken someone’s trust and took something, even though the cost is not high.
• Previous criminal record. If you have prior criminal records, the court will decide the sentence depending on the type of your last crime.
If you have stolen something by breaking the owner’s trust, then the crime will be considered a very aggravating factor, leading to many years of a prison sentence.
The other factor is the preexisting criminal record. If you have a previous criminal record with new theft charges, then there is a better chance that the penalties will increase.
Conclusion
If you are charged with theft, you should hire a good lawyer because you may not be guilty of the crime. But if you are charged, you have to face the prosecution at the court and prove that you are not guilty. That’s why hiring a lawyer is essential. If you are guilty of the crime, then hiring a lawyer will be a wise idea because a good lawyer will be able to prove to you that you are not guilty. For hire a lawyer visit criminal lawyers in Winnipeg.
In this article, I have also discussed theft is under 5000$ criminal offence or not. I hope the above information will help you understand the difference between those two terms.
