According to the New York State penal laws of 1865, larceny is defined as “the taking of personal property accomplished by fraud or stealth, or without color of right thereto, and with intent to deprive another thereof.” The difference between larceny and robbery is that larceny occurs without the knowledge of the person from whom the property is stolen, while robbery occurs by taking property from its owner by force. Grand larceny is a kind of larceny defined by the increased value of possessions stolen and more serious punishments. Grand larceny can be committed in these two situations:

1. “When the property taken is of value exceeding twenty-five dollars;

2. When such property, although not of value exceeding twenty-five dollars in value, is taken from the person of another.”

Punishment for grand larceny is “imprisonment in a state prison not exceeding five years. ” If upon trial it is recognized that grand larceny committed in the night time, “ the offender may be punished by imprisonment in a state prison not exceeding ten years.”

A significant number of individuals who are recommended to Isaac Hopper for assistance had been convicted of grand larceny. Hopper seems particularly sympathetic to those who committed larceny because of his sense that they did so out of necessity.

Source:

The Penal Code of the State of New York. Reported complete by the commissioners of the code. Albany: Weed, Parsons, 1865. Accessed March 6, 2019. HathiTrust