Repeat shoplifters beware in Tennessee county

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A Tennessee prosecutor is combating shoplifters with an aggressive new approach that could land repeat offenders in prison for years.

Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen has authorized the use of felony burglary charges to prosecute petty thieves who return to the scene of their shoplifting crimes, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. The policy, enacted a few months ago, is untested in Tennessee's appellate courts, according to attorneys.

"We want to be aggressive toward these repeat offenders," Deputy District Attorney General Kyle Hixson said Monday. "These retailers are really getting slammed."

Public Defender Mark Stephens says the strategy is legally suspect and will be ineffective in deterring repeat shoplifters.

"Most of the shoplifting cases are related to poverty and poverty issues and some are related to drug addiction," Stephens said. "Strapping somebody who is already struggling with a felony conviction is not smart deterrence."

Shoplifting is a misdemeanor. Shoplifters who return to stores in which they have already been caught have previously faced misdemeanor criminal trespassing charges because the stores often place the shoplifters on what are known as "no trespass lists."

Prosecutors in Allen's office are now arguing, however, that a shoplifter banned from a store is committing business burglary, which carries a minimum two-year prison term.

No other jurisdiction in the state has enacted a similar policy, Hixson and Stephens said. The county is pursuing the strategy even as both Tennessee and the federal government have moved away from emphasizing mandatory minimum sentences.

In January, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that offenders who have mandatory minimum sentences can qualify for so-called judicial diversion, which involves enrollment in rehabilitative programs as an alternative to incarceration. And in July, President Barack Obama called for a federal sentencing bill that would "lower long mandatory minimum sentences or get rid of them entirely."