Theft and Receiving Lawyer in Paris

What counts as theft under French law?

Article 311-1 of the Penal Code defines theft in one sentence: « Le vol est la soustraction frauduleuse de la chose d'autrui », the fraudulent taking of property belonging to someone else. The prosecution has to prove three things: an item that belongs to another person, an act of taking it against the owner's will, and a fraudulent intention. A traveller who picks up an identical suitcase by mistake at the Gare du Nord does not commit theft. Someone who keeps an item lent to them, knowing they must return it, is more likely facing a breach of trust, an offence covered on the page of the fraud lawyer in Paris.

Without any aggravating circumstance, theft is punished by three years of imprisonment and a 45,000 euro fine (article 311-3). For minor thefts, a simplified route has existed since 2022: where the item is worth 300 euros or less and was returned, or the victim compensated, at the time the offence was recorded, the prosecution can be ended by a fixed fine (amende forfaitaire) of 300 euros, reduced to 250 euros or increased to 600 euros (article 311-3-1). This is the typical outcome of shoplifting in a Paris department store when the item is recovered at the exit. It is not automatic, and it remains a criminal matter.

What are the penalties for aggravated theft in 2026?

Article 311-4 of the Penal Code, as amended by the law of 18 August 2026, lists twelve circumstances that raise the penalty to five years of imprisonment and a 75,000 euro fine. The most frequent in Paris are theft by several people acting together without forming an organised gang (1°), theft accompanied by violence that caused no incapacity for work (4°), theft in a home or a warehouse (6°), theft in public transport or in a place giving access to it (7°), theft accompanied by damage (8°) and theft by a person deliberately hiding their face (10°). The circumstances add up: two of them bring the penalty to seven years and 100,000 euros, three to ten years and 150,000 euros.

Article 311-5 sets a second step, seven years and 100,000 euros, for theft accompanied by violence causing an incapacity for work of eight days or less, for theft made easier by the victim's particular vulnerability, apparent or known to the offender, and for entering a home or a warehouse by trickery, breaking in or climbing, in other words burglary. The penalty rises to ten years and 150,000 euros when two of these circumstances are combined, or when one of them is combined with a circumstance of article 311-4. Beyond eight days of incapacity, theft with violence is punished by ten years (article 311-6), following the same medical threshold as the one explained on the page of the assault lawyer in Paris.

Two people stopped on the platform at Châtelet after a pickpocketing combine two circumstances, several offenders and public transport: seven years incurred. If one of them wore a hood and a mask to avoid being recognised, the prosecutor will argue a third circumstance and the ceiling becomes ten years. This is often where the defence is decided: each circumstance must be proven against each defendant, and removing a single one changes the penalty bracket.

When does theft become a crime?

Four situations turn theft into a crime, tried by a criminal court rather than the tribunal correctionnel (criminal court for délits). Theft by an organised gang is punished by fifteen years of criminal imprisonment and a 150,000 euro fine (article 311-9), as is theft with violence causing a mutilation or a permanent disability (article 311-7). Theft committed with the use or threat of a weapon, or by a person carrying a weapon that is prohibited or requires a licence, is punished by twenty years (article 311-8): this is armed robbery. Theft accompanied by violence causing death, or by torture or acts of barbarity, is punished by life imprisonment (article 311-10).

These cases follow a different pace: a judicial investigation led by a juge d'instruction (investigating judge), frequent pre-trial detention, and a trial before the assize court or the departmental criminal court. The notion of an organised gang retained during custody is regularly challenged, and sometimes dropped in favour of simple joint action, which sends the case back to the tribunal correctionnel.

Receiving stolen goods: what is the risk for buying or keeping a stolen item?

Article 321-1 of the Penal Code defines receiving (recel) as hiding, holding or passing on an item, or acting as an intermediary to pass it on, knowing that it comes from a crime or a délit, and also as knowingly benefiting from the proceeds of such an offence. It is punished by five years of imprisonment and a 375,000 euro fine, more than simple theft. The penalty rises to ten years and 750,000 euros when it is habitual, uses the facilities of a professional activity or is committed by an organised gang (article 321-2), and the fine can be raised up to half the value of the goods (article 321-3).

Everything turns on knowledge of the item's origin. In Paris, receiving cases very often involve phones bought on the street or on a resale platform, scooters and bikes, or goods sold on by a shop. The prosecution relies on clues, such as a price far below the real value or an erased serial number; the defence takes them one by one, because not knowing the origin rules out the offence.

How do extortion and blackmail differ from theft?

In extortion, the victim hands over the property or the money themselves, but under violence, threats of violence or coercion; the offender may also obtain a signature, a commitment or a secret, such as a bank card PIN (article 312-1 of the Penal Code). The basic penalty is seven years of imprisonment and a 100,000 euro fine. It rises to ten years and 150,000 euros where violence caused an incapacity of eight days or less, where the victim was particularly vulnerable, where the offender hid their face, or where the facts took place in or near a school (article 312-2), and to thirty years of criminal imprisonment with the use or threat of a weapon (article 312-5).

Blackmail replaces violence with a threat to reveal or allege facts damaging to someone's honour. It is punished by five years and 75,000 euros, raised to seven years and 100,000 euros when it is carried out online using sexual images or videos, or in order to obtain them (article 312-10). Victims can be assisted in filing a complaint and joining the proceedings as a civil party (page in French: victimes : plainte et partie civile).

What happens in Paris, from arrest to trial?

Most theft cases start with an arrest in the act, followed by garde à vue (police custody). Because theft is punished by imprisonment, custody can last up to 24 hours, extended once by 24 hours with the written authorisation of the prosecutor (article 63 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). The rights must be notified in a language the person understands, through an interpreter if needed (article 63-1), and a foreign national can ask for their consulate to be contacted, which the police must do within three hours of the request, barring insurmountable circumstances (article 63-2). The suspect can ask for a lawyer, who meets them confidentially for up to thirty minutes (article 63-4) and who must then be present at the interviews unless the person expressly waives it (article 63-4-2). More detail is on the page of the police custody lawyer in Paris.

Custody is when the evidence takes shape: RATP or shop CCTV, statements on who did what. At the end, the Paris prosecutor decides how to proceed: a conditional dismissal, a fixed fine for a small theft, a summons to a later hearing, the guilty plea procedure (CRPC), or a transfer to court. Since simple theft carries three years, comparution immédiate (immediate trial) is legally possible: the prosecutor can use it once the prison term incurred reaches two years, or six months for an offence caught in the act (article 395). In Paris, these hearings take place before the 23rd chamber of the tribunal judiciaire, often late in the evening, with a file the lawyer receives a few hours earlier.

The defendant can refuse to be tried on the same day. The court then adjourns the case to a hearing at least four weeks later, unless the defendant expressly waives that minimum, and at most ten weeks later (article 397-1). In a reasoned decision, it can order pre-trial detention until that date or leave the defendant free under judicial supervision; if the defendant is detained, judgment must be given within three months of the first appearance, failing which they are released (article 397-3). For a tourist with a return flight and no address in France, this choice is decisive. The firm prepares it with the client and their family: a hotel booking or a host's certificate, proof of employment abroad, a return ticket, sometimes the immediate repayment of the victim.

How is a theft or receiving case defended?

The defence always starts with the elements of the offence. For theft: fraudulent intent, who owns the item, and the identification of the offender on images that are often poor. For receiving: knowledge of where the item came from. For aggravated theft: each circumstance, one by one and for each defendant, because the presence of several people does not prove that each of them took part. The procedure is checked too: arrest, notification of rights, interpreter, searches.

Where the facts are established, the focus moves to the sentence. Returning the item or compensating the victim before the hearing carries real weight. The criminal record matters too, for anyone who will later apply for a visa, a residence permit or a job in France (page in French: effacement du casier judiciaire B2). An example of a case handled by the firm, a prosecution for theft and extortion committed jointly, is presented in the theft and extortion case study. Readers of French will find the same rules on the page avocat vol et recel à Paris.