Larceny, burglary, and robbery describe three different criminal acts, and the difference between larceny, burglary, and robbery comes down to what the defendant did and to whom. Larceny is taking someone else’s property without force and without unlawfully entering a building. Burglary is entering a building or structure with the intent to commit a crime inside, whether or not anything is taken. Robbery is taking property directly from a person through force, violence, or intimidation. A single incident can produce all three charges at once, and the sentences climb sharply as you move up that list.
Larceny: Taking Property Without Force
Larceny is the simplest of the three. It requires taking someone else’s property, moving it (even slightly), and intending to keep it permanently. The traditional term for that physical movement is “asportation,” and shifting the item a few inches is enough. No building has to be entered. No one has to be confronted. Grabbing an unattended laptop from a coffee shop table and walking out is larceny.
Prosecutors have to show the defendant had no legal right to the property and planned to deprive the owner of it permanently. If someone borrows a coworker’s phone, makes a call, and hands it back, there’s no larceny because the intent to keep it was never there. Most larceny defenses turn on that mental state: a defendant arguing they thought the item was theirs, took it by mistake, or always meant to return it.
Many states have folded larceny into broader “theft” statutes that also cover embezzlement and fraud. The core elements are the same regardless of the label. The practical distinction is how the defendant got access to the property. With larceny, the defendant never had a right to possess it. With embezzlement, someone lawfully entrusted with property (an employee handling cash, for example) converts it to personal use. With fraud or false pretenses, the defendant tricks the owner into handing over ownership through deception.
Petty Larceny Versus Grand Larceny
States split larceny into a misdemeanor (petty) and a felony (grand) based on the value of what was taken. The threshold varies dramatically. Some states set it as low as $200; others don’t treat a theft as a felony until the value tops $2,500. A majority fall somewhere between $500 and $1,500. Since 2000, at least 37 states have raised their felony theft thresholds to keep pace with inflation and reduce the number of people picking up felony records for low-value offenses.1The Pew Charitable Trusts. The Effects of Changing Felony Theft Thresholds
Petty larceny usually carries a sentence of less than a year in a local jail along with fines and possible probation. Grand larceny convictions can mean multiple years in state prison, and the felony label itself creates lasting barriers to employment, housing, and professional licensing that a misdemeanor usually does not.
Burglary: Entering With Criminal Intent
Burglary, technically, has nothing to do with stealing. It is about entering a building or structure with the intent to commit any crime inside. Someone who breaks into a house planning to commit assault has committed burglary even if nothing is taken. A person can be convicted of burglary without ever getting around to the intended crime. The entry plus the criminal purpose completes the offense.
The old common-law definition required an actual “breaking,” meaning physically forcing a door or smashing a window. Modern statutes have mostly dropped that requirement. Walking in through an unlocked door or an open window is enough if the person had no right to be there. Many state statutes go further and cover situations where someone enters lawfully (walking into an open store during business hours, for example) and then stays after permission ends, with criminal intent forming at that point. This “remaining unlawfully” language broadens burglary well beyond the traditional rule that intent had to exist at the exact moment of entry.
The structures covered are also wider than most people expect. Beyond houses and apartments, burglary statutes in various jurisdictions reach warehouses, barns, tents, locked vehicles, cargo containers, and boats. The common thread is an enclosed space where the owner has a reasonable expectation that outsiders will stay out.
How Burglary Is Graded
Burglary severity depends on what kind of structure was entered and what happened inside. Residential burglaries carry harsher penalties than commercial ones, and an occupied home usually pushes the charge from second-degree to first-degree. The grading reflects a straightforward reality: when an intruder enters a home where people are sleeping, the risk of a violent confrontation jumps.
First-degree burglary, where most of the serious prison time comes from, typically involves some combination of an occupied dwelling, a weapon, or an assault during the entry or escape. Second-degree or third-degree burglary covers commercial buildings, unoccupied structures, and situations without aggravating factors. Even a lower-degree burglary is still a felony in most states.
Robbery: Taking Property by Force or Fear
Robbery is theft plus violence or the threat of it. The defining element is a direct confrontation: the defendant takes property from a person or from within that person’s immediate control, using force or intimidation to do it. Under federal law, robbery within special maritime and territorial jurisdiction requires taking property “by force and violence, or by intimidation” from a person’s presence and carries up to 15 years in prison.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2111 – Special Maritime and Territorial Jurisdiction
The “immediate presence” requirement does not mean the property has to be in the victim’s hands. If someone threatens a store clerk and takes money from a register across the counter, the money was within the clerk’s physical control and observation. That counts. The force or threat can range from a shove to a pointed gun. Even an implied threat, such as passing a note claiming to have a weapon, is usually enough to elevate a theft to robbery.
When a firearm or other dangerous weapon is involved, the charge typically escalates to armed robbery or first-degree robbery. Federal bank robbery with a dangerous weapon carries up to 25 years in prison, compared to 20 years for unarmed bank robbery. If someone is killed during the robbery, federal law imposes a minimum of 10 years, and the death penalty is available.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2113
How the Sentences Compare
Penalties for these three crimes line up with the risk of physical harm to another person.
Larceny sits at the bottom. Petty larceny is a misdemeanor with potential jail time under a year. Grand larceny is a felony, but sentences are typically measured in low single-digit years unless the stolen property was extremely valuable or the defendant has prior convictions.
Burglary is the middle tier. Even a basic burglary is a felony in most states, and residential burglary of an occupied dwelling routinely draws sentences of five years or more. Add a weapon or an assault during the crime and first-degree burglary penalties can reach 20 years or longer, depending on the state.
Robbery draws the heaviest sentences because it means a victim experienced violence or the fear of it. Federal data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission shows the average sentence for robbery offenders was 110 months (roughly nine years) in fiscal year 2024. When the defendant was also convicted of using a firearm under 18 U.S.C. ยง 924(c), the average jumped to 162 months, about 13.5 years, because the firearm sentence runs consecutively to the robbery sentence.4United States Sentencing Commission. Robbery Offenses
When One Incident Produces All Three Charges
These crimes are not mutually exclusive. A single event can produce charges for all three, and prosecutors routinely stack them. Picture someone forcing open the back door of an occupied home. The moment they cross the threshold with intent to steal, that’s burglary. If they then confront a resident and threaten violence to take a wallet, that’s robbery. If they also grab a laptop on the way out without any additional confrontation, that’s larceny. Three separate offenses, one incident.
This matters because sentencing for each charge can run consecutively rather than concurrently, depending on the jurisdiction and the judge. A defendant who might face a few years for burglary alone can be looking at a much longer combined sentence once robbery and larceny charges are added. The gap between a burglary conviction and a robbery conviction, in particular, can be the difference between a few years and more than a decade.
How These Differ From Embezzlement and Fraud
People sometimes group embezzlement and fraud in with larceny, burglary, and robbery, but they sit on a different track. Embezzlement and fraud both involve a defendant who had some lawful access to the property or who obtained it through deception rather than taking it outright. Larceny requires that the defendant never had a right to possess the item in the first place. Burglary requires unauthorized entry into a structure. Robbery requires a direct, forceful taking from a person. If you’re trying to figure out which charge fits a given situation, those three questions (How did the defendant get access? Did they enter a structure? Was anyone confronted?) are the ones that sort it out.