A new state law takes aim at highly organized retailed thieves.
Prefiled slightly more than three months ago in the South Carolina House, H. 3523 cleared its final General Assembly vote Feb. 27 and was signed into law by Gov. Henry McMaster on Friday, March 7, according to its status page on the legislature’s website.
The law stiffens penalties for “[t]hieves who work together to steal thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise from South Carolina businesses,” the South Carolina Daily Gazette news website reported.
Increasingly brazen and violent shoplifters have led to a sharp increase in thefts from stores between 2019 and 2023, the website reported, citing a December survey by the National Retail Federation. Among respondents, about 75% reported increased concerns about organized retail theft.
State Attorney General Alan Wilson linked the trend to increases in other types of crime.
“Organized retail crime is feeding other types of crime,” the Daily Gazette reported him saying at a news conference. “Violent gang activity, human trafficking, the trafficking from trafficking, all of this stuff is connected.”
The new law moves South Carolina into the ranks of at least eight other states — Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, New York and Vermont — that have passed laws targeting retail theft.
The law sets a $2,000 threshold for a theft to be considered organized retail crime, the Daily Gazette reported. Penalties can range from three years in prison and a $5,000 fine for first-time offenders to 20 years and $50,000 for later convictions.
The post Organized thieves challenged by new law first appeared on South Carolina Lawyers Weekly.