In 2022, the sentencing guidelines for judges recommend that those convicted of theft should receive anything from a fine or unpaid work order to seven years in prison, depending on the harm done.
Jail terms are reserved for those cases in which violence is used, vulnerable victims targeted or goods worth over £10,000 are made away with. For the petty theft of trivial items, offenders are likely to suffer a slap on the wrist – but this was not always the case.
During the 18th century, stealing so much as a ball of snuff could see someone being “transported” – meaning exiled to one of the British Empire’s colonies – for years at a time. Often this was Australia, a then-newly discovered continent on the far side of the planet, characterised by an insufferably hot climate and a menagerie of weird and potentially dangerous creatures.
