Legislation Regulating the Offence of Theft: A Critical Evaluation

This report provides a critical analysis of the legislation regulating the offense of theft, primarily focusing on the Theft Act 1968. It examines the essential elements of the crime, including actus reus and mens rea, with a particular emphasis on the concepts of dishonesty and appropriation. The report delves into the legal definitions of these terms, as outlined in the Act and further clarified by case law, such as R v Ghosh and Ivey v Genting Casinos. It explores the complexities of determining dishonesty, the implications of appropriation, and the intent to permanently deprive an owner of their property. Furthermore, the report considers the evolution of the law, the criticisms of the Act, and the impact of white-collar crimes and fraud. The analysis includes a discussion of the five elements required to satisfy the offense of theft, and how these elements are evaluated by the courts. The paper also references relevant case law and academic sources to provide a comprehensive understanding of the topic. The report concludes by reflecting on the importance of understanding the crime of theft and its implications.

Running head: LEGISLATION REGULATING THE OFFENCE OF THEFT
LEGISLATION REGULATING THE OFFENCE OF THEFT
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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LEGISLATION REGULATING THE OFFENCE OF THEFT
ASSESSMENT 1
Legislation relating to the theft
The crime of theft, as embodied in Section 1(1) of Theft Act, 1968, entails that the
individual is held to be guilty of the offence of theft in case the individual take property
dishonestly that is owned by another individual with the motive to deprive the owner
permanently of it1. Subsections 2-6 of the said act deliver elements that are required for
constituting the offense of theft in the country of the United Kingdom2. Therefore the actus reus
and mens reus are the two essentials ingredients of crime. The actus reus of the offense of theft
comprises of property, appropriation, and belonging to other individuals. The mens reus of the
offense of theft consists of intent to deprive the owner permanently and also dishonesty3. The
paper will evaluate the contemporary position of law on the element of dishonest appropriation
critically in addition to that discussing the issues which tend to the contemporary progress in the
zone of legislation.
Dishonesty, as enumerated in Section 2 of the act, state that the opposite party will not be
treated to be dishonest in case he considers that he has authority to do the same and have faith
that he has permission from the owner of the property or is the owner cannot be found. However,
1 Theft Act, 1968
2 Coulton, Richard, Matthew Mauger, and Christopher Reid. Stealing Books in Eighteenth-
Century London. (Springer, 2016).
3 Gogo, Kato, and Odimabo Soboma. "Evidential Hurdles in the Prosecution of Crude Oil
Thieves in Nigeria: Lessons From MT Anuket Emerald v. FRN (2017) LPELR-42326
(CA)." (2018)Humberside Journal of Law & Soc. Sc 8.1.

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the term dishonesty in the perspective of theft is not defined clearly, and what actions will not be
amounting to dishonest act4. Nevertheless, the act which does not constitute dishonesty can be
outside the scope and ambit of Section 2 of the said act leaving the court to determine as to the
material of fact in case the opposite party has been guilty of the dishonest act. The examination
to ascertain the dishonesty of the individual was enumerated in the case of R v Ghosh [1982]
EWCA Crim 1053, 3 W.L.R 110, in addition to that ascertaining in two segments until the case
of Ivey was objective and subjective5. Therefore the examination of dishonesty should consider
whether the conduct is of character that is considered to be dishonest by the reasonably prudent
person. In addition to that, would alleged individual realized that the act he was committing by
those settled standards is regarded as dishonest.
Therefore although the Supreme Court delivers clarity for the dishonest act, the deficit of
comprehension resulting in the judgment which can differ from one jury to another.
The appropriation includes the presumption of the entitlement of the actual owner of the
property, as defined under Section 3(1) of Theft Act, 19686. The property, as defined under
Section 4(1) of the said act, affords the property that involves money, personal or real things, and
4 Singh, Pragya, and Shashwat Singh. "AN AFFAIR OF THE ART: CONTEMPORARY
REFLECTIONS ON THE LEGAL DIMENSIONS OF INTERNATIONAL ART THEFT."
(2019) Art Antiquity & Law 24.3: 235-263.
5 R v Ghosh [1982] EWCA Crim 1053, 3 W.L.R 110
6 Houser, Rick A. Counseling and educational research: Evaluation and application. (Sage
Publications, 2019).

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LEGISLATION REGULATING THE OFFENCE OF THEFT
intangible property. In order to constitute the offense of theft, it is necessary that the property in
which the subject matter of theft must belong to another individual having the control or
possession over the same. The term dishonesty, as defined in theft, is the appropriation of the
property that belongs either by means of control or possession by another with the intent of
depriving him permanently7. The term intention to deprive permanently is the individual deal
with the property as his own irrespective of the right of ownership. Therefore the Theft Act led to
the crime of theft. There are five elements that require to satisfy the offense of theft. The five
elements involve dishonesty that is the appropriation that is taking of the property that is
possessed by another individual. In addition to that; there should be a presence of intention that
is mens reus to deprive another that is the owner of the property permanently.
Section 2 of the theft Act, 1968 specifies that dishonestly taking of the property that
belongs to another individual along with the criminal intent of depriving the owner permanently
therefore the appropriation of property is not amounting to theft is the individual doing the act
with the belief that they possess the legal authority to take or appropriate the property.
Furthermore, the owner of the property has knowledge of the act; there is no probability of
finding the actual owner of the property in spite of repeated attempts and after adopting
reasonable steps8. In the case of Ivey v Genting Casinos [2018] AC 391, it is laid down by the
7 Taylor, Emmeline. "Supermarket self-checkouts and retail theft: The curious case of the
SWIPERS." (2016) Criminology & criminal justice 16.5: 552-567.
8 Makanje, Gift Dorothy. "CRIMES INVOLVING DISHONESTY OR MORAL TURPITUDE
IN MALAWI’S ELECTIONS." Journal of African Elections: 108.

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Supreme Court that the test to be implemented for the determination of the issue9. It is first to
ascertain by the court the actual condition of the knowledge of the individuals or the individual
belief relating to the fact. The belief or reasonableness is regarded as the material of evidence as
to whether the individual apprehended the belief; however, it is not the further requirement that
the belief should be the rationale, the question as to whether it is held genuinely. Whenever the
actual condition of mind relating to the belief or knowledge of fact has created the issue as to
whether his behavior is dishonest or honest is to be identified by the finder of the fact by the
application of standards or objectives of the decent individual10. There is no necessitate that the
opposite party should rely upon that the conduct of the plaintiff by those objectives or standards,
dishonest.
Thus in order to constitute the offense of theft if the individual has the entitlement of the
property owner and the same is in the control of another individual, they can be held guilty for
stealing the property that is the subject matter of theft. In the case of R v Turner (1971) 55Cr
AppR 336 D, it was held that the individual is found to be guilty of the offense of theft of the car
which belongs to that particular individual after taking the same without making payment after
taking it from the garage who had to execute repairing work of the car11. The question that arises
in the case as to who had superior entitlement to that particular car was regarded as an irrelevant
factor.
9 Ivey v Genting Casinos [2018] AC 391
10 Searle, R. H., et al. "Bad apples? Bad barrels? Or bad cellars? Antecedents and processes of
professional misconduct in UK Health and Social Care: Insights into sexual misconduct and
dishonesty." (2017) Professional Standards Authority .
11 R v Turner (1971) 55Cr AppR 336 D

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Therefore the property, which is the subject matter of theft, belonged to another
individual during the period of taking or appropriation. In the majority of the case, this is not
regarded as an issue. Nevertheless, there may evolve as to where the statutory rights of the
possessions have shifted before making the payment is necessary. The most general examples are
in case the individual consumes a meal in the restaurant after that leaves the place without
making payment for the meal or refuel the car and leaves the service station without paying for
the same is treated as theft. Therefore if the prosecution of the case can establish that the
opposite party dishonestly created intent of not making payment for the fuel or food prior to the
taking or consuming and the property must belong to another individual at the time of occurring
of dishonest appropriation.
Therefore it is observed by making a critical analysis of the offense of theft that
dishonesty, which is the crucial element of theft, has been ascertained by the juries without
having unfair complications on a regular basis. Nonetheless, dishonesty is the essential factor of
the complicated acquisitive offenses of criminal nature. In the perspective of white-collar
offense, it involves the crimes that come under the jurisdiction of Fraud Act, 2006, in addition to
that conspiracy to deceive along with that miscarries to eradicate the criminal offenses, which is
of corporate nature. Dishonesty might be involved as the factor of the proposed general
miscarriage to eradicate the economic offense that is regarded by the government of the United
Kingdom. The Theft Act, 1968 has been formulated with the objective of shifting from the
safeguard of protection to safeguard of the property is replaced by the Larceny Act, 1916, the
requirement of actus reus of carrying away and also taking the property in the crime of theft
along with the necessitate of the appropriation as designated in the presumption of entitlement of
owner. Dishonesty is treated as an act in the absence of honesty. Dishonesty in the offense of

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crime is the primary element of the majority of offenses that are connecting to conversion,
acquisition as well as disposal of the property, whether intangible or tangible, as indicated in the
criminal law, for instance, fraud. The test for the determination of dishonesty has two aspects.
The first factor involves the behavior that is alleged was dishonest by the standard that is laid of
reasonable, ordinary as well as an honest individual. In addition to that, another test as to
whether the opposite party should recognize that honest, ordinary individual would regard his
conduct.
The crime of theft after reviewing by the Criminal Law Revision Committee and after
replacement of the Larceny Act, there must be a wider crime for safeguarding the property
somewhat than possession. Though it created the offense with greater brutality, the issues evolve
as the court observe the crisis to interpreted dishonesty and appropriation. The offense as
enumerated in Section 1 of The Theft Act, wherefrom the element of dishonest misappropriation,
is not to be considered as the absolute composite criteria12. There are several criticisms relating
to the particulars of the offense of theft prior to the emergence of the landmark case in Ivey,
especially in the area of appropriation and dishonestly as well as whether they examine
subjectively or objectively.
12 Leavitt, Keith, and David M. Sluss. "Workplace Dishonesty and Deception as Socially
Situated Organizational Behavior." 2017 Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and
Management.

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LEGISLATION REGULATING THE OFFENCE OF THEFT
ASSESSMENT 2
Bibliography
Okeke, Romanus Izuchukwu. The prevention of internal identity theft-related crimes: a case
study research of the UK online retail companies. Diss. University of Central Lancashire,
2015.
According to the author, the third major cyber security dangers in the year 2013 by
Forbes, the internal identity of the crimes related to theft, leave unlimited sufferers in the wake
involve consumers and the online retail corporation13. Thus with the speedy development of the
application of debit cards and credit in e-commerce, it is regarded that online retail considered
the chief target for the preparators of IIDTRC. It is involved by IIDTRC, the misapplication of
the information process by the workers who are dishonest to theft the personally identifiable
information of the victim. The offense poses an important impact on socio-economic as well as
the risk of data security. The occurrences of the crime relating to theft that is internal identity in
commerce throughout the world have not reduced for earlier periods, Kroll, KPMG as well as
CIFAS Joint Survey propose that the fraud committed by the employees and the IIDTRC
connected loss expense more than $ 1.4 million per one billion dollars of US as reported by Kroll
Global Fraud Report, 2013.
The primary and secondary sources of data involved are the researcher made primary
interaction with upper management of the corporation. Though the Retail group did not afford
easy accessibility to top managers engage in security, the researcher in this situation had to
implement the researcher sponsor as the gatekeeper for the accessibility to the top manager. The
case or incident will be determined by the process of the questionnaire, semi-structured
13 Okeke, Romanus Izuchukwu. The prevention of internal identity theft-related crimes: a case study research of the
UK online retail companies. Diss. University of Central Lancashire, 2015

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LEGISLATION REGULATING THE OFFENCE OF THEFT
interview, and other primary materials such as the National Fraud Authority archive, UK
National Staff Dismissal Register. The secondary source of data involves business crime
reporting, public reporting, as well as web sources. There was a necessity for secondary
consideration relating to support capacities and capabilities and also the development of
procedures from complementary management as the department of law enforcement. For
example, the head of an investigation of crime considers the complication faces by his team in
attempting to construct an efficient working connection along with the management of local
agency of law enforcement.
ASSESSMENT 3
Reflection
In my opinion, by extensive examination of the offense of theft, it is suggested that for
the purpose of drawing inference regarding what constitutes the crime, there is the requirement
to formulate first a deep comprehension of the concept of the specific type of crime.
The analysis of secondary data that is performed by the application of British Crime
Survey Data to achieve insights in three components of robbery and theft sufferers namely,
victim, stolen goods as well as incident characteristic.
The attempt is embarked on the hope that potential elements of risk can be determined as
well as research over time that provides information on the subsequent theories relating to the
fall in offense and future strategy adopted for the prevention of crime. The fall of theft in the
vehicle in the country of Australia was contributed to the advanced quality of security, especially
the system of central locking as well as electronic immobilizers. Thus my focus of analysis in the
context of pursuance of approach that is crime specific the attention is on the theft of the

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personal property from the individual that is determined as a significant category of crime that
remains under-researched in connection to the crime drop. In following residential burglary and
vehicle crime, the offense of theft can be viewed as the logical acquisitive choice of crime for the
purpose of analysis. The prior research encounters criticism that exists in unreliable
operationalization of the category of offense. Therefore according to my judgment, the offense of
theft from individual or larceny in the country of United States categorized differently as an
aggressive crime.
Thus the main objective for conducting detail analysis of the offence of crime is to
establish policy recommendation. Several policy recommendation has been implemented in this
regard. That involve denying the advantage of specific matters to thieves evaluating routinely the
legitimate market information, enhancement of the number of publicity campaign for the
prevention of crime that is area based, enhancement of flexibility of specific environment that is
at high risk through additional formal surveillance. Furthermore the broad series of the potential
opportunities for future examination that have been determined. The strategies and methods that
have been implemented in the contemporary functioning can expand to samples and type of other
crime applying model that is multilevel to implement area impact in the detail manner. The
function of personal security tools in assisting falls in offence would make worthy involvement
to the broader fall in crime research. Therefore the analysis can be expanded for the application
of overseas datasets.
Therefore it can be concluded that primary aim is to explore the concept of the offence of
theft from individual over era of crime drop. The analysis of percentage of occurrences wherein
the specific properties were theft permit for determination of the quantum of hot goods in
connection to the crime of theft. The two goods include wallets and cash were considered as

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LEGISLATION REGULATING THE OFFENCE OF THEFT
hottest goods consistently over the era of crime drop however their control diminished clearly.
The theft of mobile phones and debit cards enhanced intensely in the recent period. Thus it can
be summarize that the overarching practice in the offence of theft is made of two trends one that
reflects decrease in offence and another that mirror the upsurge theft because of availability of
valuable, portable and new electronic products which are lucrative to the thieves.
Bibliography
Books and Journals
Coulton, Richard, Matthew Mauger, and Christopher Reid. Stealing Books in Eighteenth-
Century London. (Springer, 2016).
Gogo, Kato, and Odimabo Soboma. "Evidential Hurdles in the Prosecution of Crude Oil Thieves
in Nigeria: Lessons From MT Anuket Emerald v. FRN (2017) LPELR-42326
(CA)." (2018)Humberside Journal of Law & Soc. Sc 8.1.
Singh, Pragya, and Shashwat Singh. "AN AFFAIR OF THE ART: CONTEMPORARY
REFLECTIONS ON THE LEGAL DIMENSIONS OF INTERNATIONAL ART THEFT."
(2019) Art Antiquity & Law 24.3: 235-263.
Houser, Rick A. Counseling and educational research: Evaluation and application. (Sage
Publications, 2019).
Taylor, Emmeline. "Supermarket self-checkouts and retail theft: The curious case of the
SWIPERS." (2016) Criminology & criminal justice 16.5: 552-567.

11
LEGISLATION REGULATING THE OFFENCE OF THEFT
Makanje, Gift Dorothy. "CRIMES INVOLVING DISHONESTY OR MORAL TURPITUDE IN
MALAWI’S ELECTIONS." JournaL of african ELEctions: 108.
Searle, R. H., et al. "Bad apples? Bad barrels? Or bad cellars? Antecedents and processes of
professional misconduct in UK Health and Social Care: Insights into sexual misconduct and
dishonesty." (2017) Professional Standards Authority .
Leavitt, Keith, and David M. Sluss. "Workplace Dishonesty and Deception as Socially Situated
Organizational Behavior." 2017 Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management.
Case laws
R v Ghosh [1982] EWCA Crim 1053, 3 W.L.R 110
Ivey v Genting Casinos [2018] AC 391
R v Turner (1971) 55Cr AppR 336 D
Legislation
Theft Act, 1968