Can a victim of theft retroactively give the stolen item to the thief?
<p>If Joe steals Alice's widget, but Alice for some reason doesn't want Joe to be convicted and is okay with him having her widget, can she retroactively give him permission? Does this prevent him from being prosecuted?</p>

<h2>Yes, but that doesn't make the theft not theft</h2>
<p>At the time of the crime, Joe committed theft. The state can prosecute Joe for that theft. Alice's subsequent gift does not change this although it would prevent her from suing for recovery.</p>
<p>As a practical matter, if Alice was willing to lie and say that the gift preceded the theft or she had given permission for the item to be taken, this would almost surely create reasonable doubt in any prosecution. However, on a pure &quot;these are the facts&quot; basis, the theft is a theft.</p>

<p>One thing that pops up frequently in this SE is that the victim can &quot;press charges,&quot; but the authorities do not need permission to charge the perpetrator. If Joe has been apprehended by the authorities and charges are filed, it isn't necessarily something that Alice can change.</p>

<p><a href="/questions/tagged/england-and-wales" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;england-and-wales&#39;" aria-label="show questions tagged &#39;england-and-wales&#39;" rel="tag" aria-labelledby="england-and-wales-container">england-and-wales</a></p>
<p>It is a statutory defence to a charge of theft for Joe to show that 'he appropriates the property in the belief that he would have the other's [Alice's] consent if the other knew of the appropriation and the circumstances of it.' (Theft Act 1968, section 2(1)(b)).  The fact that Alice <em>did</em> give consent once she knew of the appropriation and its circumstances would be pretty helpful to Joe here.</p>

united-states theft oregon