Bill Text: MS SB2549 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Shoplifting; revise penalties.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2022-02-01 - Died In Committee [SB2549 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2022-SB2549-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2022 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division B
By: Senator(s) Seymour
Senate Bill 2549
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-23-93, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE OFFENSE OF SHOPLIFTING AND THE GRAVITY OF THE OFFENSE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-23-93, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-23-93. (1) Any person who shall willfully and unlawfully take possession of any merchandise owned or held by and offered or displayed for sale by any merchant, store or other mercantile establishment with the intention and purpose of converting such merchandise to his own use without paying the merchant's stated price therefor shall be guilty of the crime of shoplifting and, upon conviction, shall be punished as is provided in this section.
(2) The requisite intention to convert merchandise without paying the merchant's stated price for the merchandise is presumed, and shall be prima facie evidence thereof, when such person, alone or in concert with another person, willfully:
(a) Conceals the unpurchased merchandise;
(b) Removes or causes the removal of unpurchased merchandise from a store or other mercantile establishment;
(c) Alters, transfers or removes any price-marking, any other marking which aids in determining value affixed to the unpurchased merchandise, or any tag or device used in electronic surveillance of unpurchased merchandise;
(d) Transfers the unpurchased merchandise from one container to another; or
(e) Causes the cash register or other sales recording device to reflect less than the merchant's stated price for the unpurchased merchandise.
(3) Evidence of stated price or ownership of merchandise may include, but is not limited to:
(a) The actual merchandise or the container which held the merchandise alleged to have been shoplifted; or
(b) The content of the price tag or marking from such merchandise; or
(c) Properly identified photographs of such merchandise.
(4) Any merchant or his agent or employee may testify at a trial as to the stated price or ownership of merchandise.
(5) A person convicted of
shoplifting merchandise for which the merchant's stated price is less than or
equal to * * * Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00) shall
be punished as follows:
(a) Upon a first
shoplifting conviction the defendant shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined
not more than * * * Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars
($750.00), or punished by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed six
(6) months, or by both, but if the court finds substantial and
compelling reasons why the offender * * * can be safely and effectively
supervised in the community, * * * the court * * *
may suspend the sentence of imprisonment and impose a period of supervised
probation not exceeding one (1) year * * *.
(b) Upon a second
shoplifting conviction the defendant shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined
not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or punished by imprisonment in
the county jail for a term not to exceed six (6) months, or by both * * *.
(6) Upon a third or
subsequent shoplifting conviction where the value of the shoplifted merchandise
is * * *
One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) or more, the defendant shall be guilty of
a felony and fined not more than * * * Two
Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00), or imprisoned for a term not exceeding * * * five (5) years, or by both
such fine and imprisonment.
(7) A person convicted of
shoplifting merchandise for which the merchant's stated price exceeds * * * Two
Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00) shall be guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction, * * *
fined not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or imprisoned for a
term not exceeding ten (10) years, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(8) In determining the number of prior shoplifting convictions for purposes of imposing punishment under this section, the court shall disregard all such convictions occurring more than seven (7) years prior to the shoplifting offense in question.
(9) For the purpose of
determining the gravity of the offense under subsection (6) or (7) of
this section, the prosecutor may aggregate the value of merchandise shoplifted
from three (3) or more separate mercantile establishments within the same legal
jurisdiction * * *
during the two-year period * * * prior to the
offense.
(10) In addition to any other penalties prescribed in this section, the court may require the defendant to make restitution to the owner of the property that was shoplifted in an amount equal to twice the value of the property that was shoplifted.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022.
