Family members, coworkers, restaurant employees, company employees and the list goes on and on. What do they all have in common? All of these groups have included  identity thieves who have been caught committing the crime. Now the question is: Is identity theft punishment strong enough to deter these people from committing this crime again?

Federal law is very detailed in answering this question, however it really breaks down to show that the penalty for committing identity theft only lasts approximately two years for that specific charge, even though the effects of the crime will harm the victim for a longer period of time. If the thief committed an additional crime in connection with this charge, that is sentenced separately. For instance, they might receive a sentence that could last anywhere from a few weeks to a few years for mail fraud or burglary and then have another two year sentence imposed upon them in connection with identity theft for using the information stolen to negatively affect their victim(s). This two year sentence is said to be for “aggravated identity theft” which leads to a federal offense like social security fraud or government theft. The sentence is hardened if the individual is found to have committed the act in relation to terrorism.

Of course, the only person who really suffers in this situation is the victim. No matter how long the thief is penalized, the victim is left to clean up the mess and try to prove who they are. In the meantime, the thief is more than likely looking for their next victim.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 11:43 am and is filed under Articles Concerning Identity Theft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.