Some people are full of tricks instead of treats, but can they actually get into trouble for it?

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Halloween Etiquette

When you take the kids out trick or treating, I think everyone can agree that there is a certain etiquette to follow. Don't walk in people's landscaping, stick to the walkways, don't trick or treat if the lights are off, and take only one piece of candy if someone leaves the candy bowl out. However, not everyone follows these simple Halloween rules, and ruin the fun for everyone.

Candy Snatching

Last night several people were sharing videos from their security cameras to EvansvilleWatch because there was apparently an epidemic of candy snatchers on Halloween 2022.

The term for stealing candy off of someone's porch is "candy snatching" and it's actually happened to me before. A few years ago I put a bucket on my porch with a sign that said "please take two pieces"  because I was walking around my neighborhood with some friends while their kids trick or treated.   I ended up catching this on my doorbell camera:

The video is hard to see, and I edited it to make sure you can't see the children's faces, but what made me the maddest about this situation was that the kids say "I'll take 2 pieces" and then you hear an adult say "take the whole bucket."  That's what made me mad about this candy-stealing situation.  If the kids would have dumped the bucket out in their bags, sure I'd have been annoyed, but whatever that's what happens when you leave candy on your porch.  But a parent saying that and then telling the kids to take the whole bucket?  A good example you're setting there, pal!

Sure it's annoying, but is it illegal?

Now here's the thing I am not petty enough to press charges for something like this.  Is it annoying when it happens?  Yeah, but it's a $20 bag of candy I wasn't going to keep anyways, it's just annoying I wasn't able to give candy to every trick-or-treater, and the group above ruined the fun for everyone.  However, you may want to think twice before you go candy snatching (that is so fun to say) because it can land you in hot water!

According to FindLaw.com:

Stealing something away from a person directly is often charged much more seriously than stealing something from a store, or from a person's unattended bag, regardless of value. Even though it's just taking candy from a kid, it can still result in serious aggravated theft charges, which can result in actual jail time.

In fact, this actually happened a few years ago in New York, a woman was arrested after a home security camera caught her stealing candy off of a front porch.