As a furriner, I’m at total loss with some things Americana. GTA is one of them (not the video game). I looked up the term at wikipedia and it provides some insight:
So, I deduce that grand theft is a felony crime (due to the monetary value of the thing stolen) and obviously, many (but far from all) cars are worth more than a pack of Ramen.
However, I’ve never heard of grand theft, jewellry or grand theft, stamp collection.
So my question is - Why isn’t it just car theft?
Most states have two categories of theft:
grand theft, or the unlawful taking of items above a particular dollar value (California’s is $400)
petty theft, or the unlawful taking of items below that threshold.
Petty theft carries a lighter sentence than grand theft.
My WAG is that Grand Theft Auto is considered more serious because, in addition to depriving the owner of a valuable object, the thief is severely imparing the victim’s mobility, and quite possibly harming their ability to earn a living. This is why horse theft was a hangin’ crime in the old days. That farmer or rancher really needed that horse.
Medieval Anglo-French law vocabulary used two terms: grand (large, serious) vs. petit (small, not so serious). Hence the grand jury of 23 men, handing down indictments, vs. the petit jury of 12, giving verdict at trials. Petit was pronounced and often respelled as petty, a related word. Several crimes were given degrees characterized by grand and petit; larceny/theft is, I think, the only one common in modern jurisprudence.
From my POV this makes sense (and enhances my idea that Americans really love and treassure their cars), since “Grand thaft, Jewellry” returns zero hits with Google and “Grand Theft, Jewelry” returns a whopping total of 34 hits, i.e. it’s not the monetary value per se that invokes the use of the word ‘grand’.
Try searching grand theft -auto in google news. I found a bunch of recent articles talking about being being indicted or convicted of ‘grand theft’ that had nothing to do with cars.
I wonder if there has ever been a case of grand theft piano.
(my bolding)
You sir, have just thought of the title for the next multi-million dollar video game franchise. I’m on the line with Sony as I type this. Thanks a bunch.
Aside: National Lampoon once ran a subscription ad featuring a fictitious gangster named Danny “Oyster Breath” Spirochete, who was convicted of insecticide, assaulting a police horse and grand theft, train.
To the OP – I can’t understand why the theft of a $400 car isn’t an even greater crime against the victim, who would presumably have less resources to fall back on than someone who loses a $20,000+ car.
Not necessarily true - there are many wealthy (or relatively wealthy) people who are frugal about spending on cars (there’s the depreciating asset thing after all), and plenty of totally irresponsible people who will buy a car much more expensive than they can afford when they’re already drowning in other debt.
Weeell, wikipedia, in the linked article above, doesn’t mention trains, however:
[thread=374291]Here’s an interesting thread[/thread] about the possibility of petty theft auto.
(The consensus seems to be that any auto theft is grand.)
The OP seems to be asking why you hear the phrase “grand theft (auto),” but not, say “grand theft (cash)” or other types of things that are stolen.
The answer, I think, is that when auto theft started becoming a problem, some state legislatures decided that the regular “grand theft” provision of the criminal statutes was insufficient and created a separate provision, titled “grand theft (auto).” The reason you don’t hear about “grand theft (jewelry)” is that theft of jewelry is prosecuted under the regular “grand theft” provision. Auto theft is the only kind of theft addressed by a separate statutory provision.
Any connection between `Grand’ and $1000 value?
Yes. It was 88 Fingers Louie, the piano playing gangster.
His rendition of “Happy Anniversary” is quite good and upbeat.
Not in New York. The theft of a car with a value of less than one hundred dollars is considered petty theft.
Basically correct. Here, for example, is Georgia’s statute breaking down the punishments for theft of different values and categories of property. Note that automobiles are a separate category (§ 16-8-12(a)(5)).
Again, basically correct.
Same reason they used to hang horse thieves in some locales.
Generally, grand larceny is a felony and petit larceny is a misdemeanor.
Most states have a general dollar value limit dividing grand from petit larceny, but provide that theft of certain types of property may be considered grand larceny at lower values. In addition, stealing property of higher values may change the crime to a higher level felony.
For instance, under the New York Penal Law art. 155, grand larceny in the fourth degree (a class E felony) is generally theft of property worth more than $1,000. However, it also includes theft of public records, secret scientific material, a credit or debit card, a firearm, telephone access device or a theft from the person of another or by extortion, regardless of value. In addition, it includes theft of a motor vehicle or religious object from a house of worship if the value is at least $100.
The theft becomes grand larceny in the third degree (a class D felony) if the property is worth more than $3,000. It is second degree (a class C felony) if the property is worth more than $50,000, or if it was obtained by extortion threatening physical injury, property damage, or abuse of public office. It is first degree grand larceny if the property stolen is worth more than (insert Dr. Evil gesture here) one million dollars.
The use of the word “grand” in “grand theft” was not derived from the slang use of “grand” to mean 1,000. I do not know if the converse has a grain of truth.