Kansas joins several other states that have enacted harsher penalties for organized retail crime. The bill still needs the signature of Gov. Laura Kelly.
The Kansas legislature passed a bill Wednesday that would classify organized retail crime a felony offense, joining nine other states that have passed similar laws in the last year. ORC refers to orchestrated groups of shoplifters who commit smash-and-grab robberies of stores or target cargo carriers. The state’s upper chamber passed the Substitute House Bill 2144, which would split the felony charges into two tiers.
report from the National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail association, found that organized retail crime was a primary driver of the massive amount of 'shrink' retailers saw in 2022, with non-employee stealing making up 36%. The term 'shrink' typically means theft and other forms of inventory losses, and retailers nationwide experienced $112 billion in losses in 2022.
Meanwhile, opponents of tough-on-crime laws such as these argue the harsher penalties are too extreme for the crimes and could prevent a person from being rehabilitated. Maine’s legislature passed a bill in the House this week that would prohibit charging people who already have two prior convictions of theft if the third theft is worth less than $500. The state’s current law permits a felony charge for the third conviction if the crimes all occur within a decade.
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