Contrary to the expectation that felony sanctions for petty thieves would reduce petty theft, the three States which felonized petty theft (California, Florida, and Texas) experienced consistently higher petty theft rates than States that did not felonize petty theft (New York and Pennsylvania). A case study of a shoplifter further demonstrates that harsher petty theft sentences do not necessarily have the desired effect. Findings support the view that scarce public resources should not be wasted on imprisoning shoplifters. In addition, the authors contend that petty theft should be charged as a misdemeanor rather than as a felony, particularly in the context of California's Three Strikes law. 5 endnotes and 1 table