Property Crimes: The Exact Penal Code

Property crime, a crime that has started to rise throughout Los Angeles and the rest of the country due to harsh economic conditions, is very general andis defined in such a way that makes it a dangerous crime to be involved in.

A property crime is a criminal act that occurs when a person takes another persons property without consent. When a person destroys another persons property, it is also considered a property crime.

According to thepenal code in Los Angeles and California, anyone who commits and act of vandalism (Defaces with graffiti or other inscribed material, Damages or Destroys) could be punished in the following way:

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  If the amount of property crime damage is four hundred dollars ($400) or more, vandalism is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison or in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars If the amount of defacement, damage, or destruction is less than four hundred dollars ($400), vandalism is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.


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  If the amount of property crime is less than four hundred dollars ($400), and the defendant has been previously convicted of vandalism or affixing graffiti or other inscribed material vandalism is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.


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  The defendant may also be ordered to clean up and/or repair the damaged property.

Property crimes committed at houses of worship have even harsher penalties:

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  Any person who knowingly commits any act of vandalism to a church, synagogue, mosque, temple, building owned and occupied by a religious educational institution, or other place primarily used as a place of worship where religious services are regularly conducted or a cemetery is guilty of a crime punishable by imprisonment in the state prison or by imprisonment in the county jail for not exceeding one year.


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  Any person who knowingly commits any act of vandalism to a church, synagogue, mosque, temple, building owned and occupied by a religious educational institution, or other place primarily used as a place of worship where religious services are regularly conducted or a cemetery, which is shown to have been a hate crime and to have been committed for the purpose of intimidating and deterring persons from freely exercising their religious beliefs, is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison.

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