Crime & Punishment

     Alabama and at least 29 other states have increased the value of items the theft of which results in felony charges. 

PEW reports there were concerns that the change could increase the crime rate.

Critics have warned that these higher cutoff points might embolden offenders and cause property crime, particularly larceny, to rise.³ To determine whether their concerns have proved to be true, The Pew Charitable Trusts examined crime trends in the 23 states that raised their felony theft thresholds between 2001 and 2011, a period that allows analysis of each jurisdiction from three years before to three years after the policy change. Pew also compared trends in states that raised their thresholds during this period with those that did not.

Here are the number PEW calculated for Alabama: