Can trick-or-treaters be charged for taking a bowl of Halloween candy? What NC law says
On Halloween night, it’s common for people to leave bowls of candy outside of their homes, often with a sign that provides clear instructions: “Take one.”
But some kids and teens see it as an opportunity to stock up on sweets.
Last year, a Charlotte resident posted Ring footage to Reddit that appears to show a masked man dumping their whole bowl of candy into a pillowcase. The year before, kids in Greensboro were captured on a Ring doorbell camera also stealing an entire bowl, WFMY reported.
While many see the move as selfish, it could also be considered a crime.
Here’s what to know.
Is it illegal to take a whole bowl of Halloween candy in NC?
The answer is a bit complicated.
Taking candy left out on a porch could be considered misdemeanor larceny (taking someone’s property valued at less than $1,000 without their consent), according to Jeff Welty, a professor of public law and government at the UNC School of Government.
“Leaving Halloween out of it for a moment, it absolutely would be misdemeanor larceny for you to come up on my front porch and steal my rocking chair, or my Amazon package, or whatever,” Welty explained in an email to The Charlotte Observer. “That’s my property, and you don’t have my consent to take it and carry it off.”
“If I put a sign on my rocking chair that says ‘Redecorating our porch, chair is free to anyone who wants it,’ and you take it, that’s not larceny because you have my permission,” Welty said.
The situation can become hazy when bowls of Halloween candy are involved.
A person who leaves a bowl of candy outside of their house consents to trick-or-treaters taking something out of it, Welty said. But figuring how much they can take is another story.
“If there’s a sign on the bowl that says ‘take one,’ I think taking more than one — and certainly, taking the whole bowl — would exceed the scope of permission, and would be larceny,” said Welty.
But if there’s no sign, it’s hard to say how much candy trick-or-treaters are legally allowed to take.
“Taking the whole bowl is rude and selfish, but different people follow different norms,” Welty said.
Can trick-or-treaters be charged for taking a bowl of candy?
Since many kids who trick-or-treat are a decade or more away from being able to vote, it’s unlikely they would be charged.
“Even the clearest case, with a sign and Ring doorbell footage of a kid taking the whole bowl, not likely to be a top public safety priority for law enforcement,” Welty said. “Bottom line, under the right facts, it could be larceny to take the whole bowl, but the likelihood that we’ll ever see a criminal case about that strikes me as low.”
However, any adults who get the urge to steal a bowl of candy could face up to 120 days in jail, according to Stowe Law Firm, a firm based in Charlotte.
