<p>I know this is a very broad question in terms of both schools and what people consider to be petty theft, but I just want to know what consequences people mainly face. The only reason I ask is because petty theft is the most common type of misdemeanor at colleges and just wanted to know the "facts". I also heard that at private institutions, the consequences are generally much more severe. Is this true? Do people normally face consequences such as suspension and expulsion for petty theft when it is a first-offense?</p>
<p>It can depend on the individual school, and whether the incident is handled by campus security or the regular police department. You would need to refer to the individual school’s handbook to see how theft on campus would be handled. Of course, in addition to whatever official punishments there are, there is also the ostracism a thief would face from other students…no one thinks the theft of anyone’s money/campus card/computer/phone/books/coat etc is funny and no one wants to be associated with a person who would steal from fellow students. Students also realize that someone who steals from on campus vendors (bookstores, kiosks etc) raises the prices for everyone else on campus.</p>
<p>I sure hope you’re not asking out of personal interest.</p>
<p>You also seem to be completely ignoring the fact that theft is a crime that can be punished by law enforcement, not just the school.</p>
<p>If this happens in the residence halls, you’ll probably get kicked out. On campus, depending on what it is you stole, you might get expelled or put on some type of probation. Then you would probably still have to deal with the court system on top of that.</p>
<p>I am just asking because our school conduct code is being revised and I want to be aware of how other schools are handling this type of situation. As it seems however, a lot of people on the counsel are saying that generally punishments depend of the student’s disciplinary history, as well as the severity of the offense.</p>
<p>@i<em>wanna</em>be_Brown: Of course I haven’t disregarded the fact that people generally have to go through the actual court depending on whether a citation was involved. My question is only concerning the policies of schools as this is COLLEGEconfidential.com.</p>