WASHINGTON – More than half a dozen states are reclassifying a range of property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, a change that could spare prison terms for minor offenses and save states jail and prosecution costs.

The changes increase the threshold dollar amounts for crimes such as check kiting, theft and criminal mischief. California, Delaware, Illinois, Montana, Oregon and Washington, among others, have amended their criminal codes in the past two years, aimed partly at deferring hundreds of offenders from costly prison and jail sentences.

State officials and criminal justice analysts said budget crises have forced state lawmakers, sometimes at political risk, to enact less punitive measures for criminal offenders. “Clearly one of the motivating factors is cost,” said Alison Shames, associate director of the Center on Sentencing and Corrections for the Vera Institute of Justice, an advocacy group. “States are looking at the numbers of people in prison for property crimes and asking themselves a simple question: Does everybody really need to be there?”

Crimes that do not meet the higher thresholds would be charged as misdemeanors or lower-level felonies. Prior to the new legislation, some offenders could have been prosecuted as felons for thefts of as little as $50 (in Oregon), less than the $62 per day average cost to house a state prisoner in the U.S.

In Illinois, the threshold for general felony theft was raised from $300 to $500 and retail theft (theft specifically from retail stores) from $150 to $300. The new felony theft thresholds took effect earlier this year.

Peter Baroni, who has helped direct an effort to revamp Illinois’ criminal code, said the changes, while incremental, were an attempt to update a criminal code that largely had not changed in nearly 50 years. Over time, there is an expectation that it will result in reduced prosecution, detention and court costs, he said.

“This (change) was not an easy task because nobody wants to be perceived as being soft on crime,” Baroni said, “but the budget constraints are so severe that the idea of being soft on crime is less abhorrent than it was in the past.”

In Montana, Republican state Sen. Jim Shockley was the primary sponsor of 2009 legislation that raised the threshold dollar amount on felony theft from $1,000 to $1,500. “You have to account for inflation,” Shockley said. “The cost of everything goes up. We’re hoping that there will be savings, if this results in prosecuting fewer felons. One public cost that people don’t think much about is the practical effect of convicting non-violent offenders as felons. Once a person has a felony record, the chances of finding future employment are essentially shot.”

Oregon Criminal Justice Commission Executive Director Craig Prins said 2009 legislation that raised thresholds for three categories of theft was largely driven by increasing costs of prosecuting and providing public defense for suspects accused of felony crimes.

Some states rethink felony property crimes – USATODAY.com