Mandatory Sentencing for Repeated Felony Theft from a Retail Store Act Exposed

The Mandatory Sentencing for Repeated Felony Theft from a Retail Store Act was adopted by ALEC's Criminal Justice Task Force at the States and Nation Policy Summit on December 11, 2003, approved by the full ALEC Board of Directors in January, 2004. ALEC has attempted to distance itself from this piece of legislation after the launch of ALECexposed.org in 2011, but it has done nothing to get it repealed in the states where it previously pushed for it to be made into law.

CMD's Bill Summary

This is part of a set of bills favored by corporations to increase criminal penalties for retail theft. This bill in particular reduces a judges discretion in sentencing by requiring a mandatory minimum sentence. It takes away the judge's ability to impose alternate or lesser punishments based on the individual circumstances of a particular cases. This bill would benefit large retailers such as Wal-Mart, which sat on the ALEC Private Sector board.

ALEC Bill Text

Section 1.

Any person convicted of felony theft from a retail store, who within the immediately preceding four years was twice convicted of felony theft from a retail store, shall be sentenced to at least the minimum term provided for such offense.

Section 2.

A person convicted under this section shall not be eligible for probation or suspension of sentence.

Adopted by ALEC's Criminal Justice Task Force at the States and Nation Policy Summit December 11, 2003.

Approved by full ALEC Board of Directors January, 2004.