Op-Ed: Why Raising Kentucky's Felony Theft Threshold is the Right Thing to Do

Written by: Brett Tolman and Aubrey Vaughan Travis

Property theft is a serious offense that should be treated as such. However, Kentucky’s threshold by which theft escalates from misdemeanor to felony has not been amended in over a decade and is outdated due to inflation. Meanwhile, the state’s corrections facilities are stretched and overcrowded, with the seventh highest incarceration rate in the country — the third highest for women. It is time for lawmakers to usher in reforms to modernize our laws, more efficiently spend taxpayer money in the corrections system and maintain public safety.