RBMS Security Committee: State Laws: Rhode Island
The RBMS Security Committee attempts to maintain a current list of statutes from each of the fifty states pertaining to library thefts or other criminal acts involving library and archival materials (view index). Following are the relevant laws for the state of Rhode Island:
2010 Rhode Island Code. Title 11 Criminal Offenses. Chapter 11-41 Theft, Embezzlement, False Pretenses, and Misappropriation
Section 11-41-5 Penalties for larceny.
(a) Any person convicted of any offense under §§ 11-41-1 – 11-41-6, except § 11-41-3, if the value of the property or money stolen, received, embezzled, fraudulently appropriated, converted, or obtained, received, taken, or secreted by false pretenses or otherwise with intent to cheat, defraud, embezzle, or fraudulently convert exceeds five hundred dollars ($500), or if the property is a firearm as defined in § 11-47-5.1, regardless of its value, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than ten (10) years or by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or both. If the value of the property or money does not exceed five hundred dollars ($500), the person shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500), or both. Any person convicted of an offense under § 11-41-2 who shall be found to have knowingly obtained the property from a person under eighteen (18) years of age, notwithstanding the value of the property, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than ten (10) years or by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or both.
(b) Any person convicted of an offense in violation of §§ 11-41-1 – 11-41-7, except § 11-41-3, which involves a victim who is a person sixty-five (65) years of age or older at the time of the offense and which involves property or money stolen, received, embezzled, fraudulently appropriated, converted, or obtained, received, taken, or secreted by false pretenses or otherwise with intent to cheat, defraud, embezzle, or fraudulently convert, with a value in excess of five hundred dollars ($500), shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than two (2) years but not more than fifteen (15) years or by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or both. If the value of the property or money does not exceed five hundred dollars ($500), the person shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year but not more than five (5) years or by a fine of not more than three thousand dollars ($3,000), or both.
Section 11-41-14 Failure to return book or other library property.
(a) Any person who shall take or borrow any book or other library property from any of the libraries or collections as defined in § 11-44-15(b), and who, upon neglect to return it within the time required and specified in the bylaws, rules, or regulations of the library owning the property, after receiving notice in writing by the librarian or other proper custodian of the property that it is overdue, upon further neglect to return it within sixty (60) days from the date of the notice, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than twenty-five dollars ($25.00), the fine to be for the use of the library. A written or printed notice given personally or sent by mail to a last known or registered place of residence shall be considered a sufficient notice. In addition, if the book should be lost, destroyed, or not returned, the person shall within sixty (60) days after being so notified, pay to the custodian the replacement value of the book, including all reasonable processing costs, as determined by the governing board having jurisdiction.
(b) All library users shall be notified of the penalties provided in subsection (a) at the time they obtain or renew their library privileges. The final notice provided for in subsection (a) shall also contain notice of the penalties.
Section 11-41-14.1 Concealment of book or other property while on premises of library - Removal of book or other property from library.
(a) Whoever, without authority, with the intention of converting to his or her own or another's use, willfully conceals a book or other library property, while still on the premises of the library, or willfully or without authority removes any book or other library property from any of the libraries or collections set forth in § 11-44-15, shall be deemed guilty of larceny, and upon, conviction, shall be punished as provided by § 11-41-5 and shall be ordered to make restitution to the library in the full retail value of the books or library property.
(b) Any person reasonably believed to have committed or to be committing the crime set forth in subsection (a) of this section shall be subject to detention by a police officer in accordance with § 12-7-1.
(c) Any employee or agent of a library, eighteen (18) years of age or older, who observes any person willfully concealing or attempting to conceal books or other library property on his or her person or amongst his or her belongings or upon the person or amongst the belongings of another, and leaving the premises with the books or other library property without first having an employee or agent record the removal of the property, or injuring or destroying books and other library property as set forth in § 11-44-15, may stop the person. Immediately upon stopping the person the library employee shall identify himself or herself and state the reason for stopping the person. If after the initial confrontation with the person under suspicion, the library employee has reasonable grounds to believe that at the time stopped the person was committing or attempting to commit the crime of larceny as set forth in this section or the misdemeanor set forth in § 11-44-15, the employee or agent may detain the person for a time sufficient to summon a police officer to the library. In no case shall the detention be for a period of more than one-half ( 1/2) hour. The detention must be accomplished in a reasonable manner without unreasonable restraints or excessive force, and may take place only on the premises of the library where the alleged crime occurred. Library premises includes the interior of a building, structure, or other enclosure in which a library facility is located, the exterior appurtenances to any building, structure, or enclosure, and the land on which the building, structure, or other enclosure is located. Any person so stopped by an employee or agent of a library shall promptly identify himself or herself by name and address. Once placed under detention, no other information shall be required of the person and no written and/or signed statement shall be elicited from him or her until a police officer has taken him or her into custody. The employee or agent may however examine, for the purposes of ascertaining whether any book or other library property has been properly checked out by the person, the property which the employee has reasonable grounds to believe were unlawfully taken in violation of this chapter or injured or destroyed in violation of chapter 44 of title 11. Should the person detained refuse to surrender the item for examination, a limited and reasonable search may be conducted. Only packages, shopping bags, handbags, or other property in the immediate possession of the person detained, but not including any clothing worn by the person, may be searched.
(d) For the purposes of this chapter, "reasonable grounds" includes knowledge that a person has concealed or injured a book or other library property while on the premises or is leaving the premises with the library property without having an employee of the library record the removal of the property from the premises.
(e) In detaining a person whom the employee or agent of the library has reasonable grounds to believe is committing the crime of larceny set forth in this chapter or the misdemeanor set forth in chapter 44 of title 11, the employee or agent may use a reasonable amount of non-deadly force when and only when that force is necessary to protect himself or herself or to prevent the escape of the person being detained or the loss of his or her property.
(f) In any civil action by a person detained under these sections against the library or employee or agent of the library so detaining him or her arising out of the detention, evidence that the defendant had reasonable grounds to believe that the plaintiff was at the time in question committing or attempting to commit the crime set forth in either section shall create a rebuttable presumption that the plaintiff was so committing or attempting to commit the crime.
2010 Rhode Island Code. Title 11 Criminal Offenses. Chapter 11-44 Trespass and Vandalism
Section 11-44-15 Injuring or destroying books and other property of libraries, archives, or other records repositories.
(a) Any person who willfully, maliciously, or wantonly writes upon, injures, defaces, tears, cuts, mutilates, or destroys any book, record, or other property belonging to or in the custody of any public county or regional library, the state library, the state archives, the state records center or other repository of public records, museum, or any library or collection belonging to or in the custody of any educational, eleemosynary, benevolent, hereditary, or historical library, or patriotic institution, organization, or society, or state or local agency, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be ordered to make restitution in the full retail value of the books, records or other property, and may be fined not more than one hundred dollars ($100), to be for use of the library, archives, or records repository.
(b) "Book, records, or other property" as used in this section includes any book, plate, picture, photograph, engraving, painting, drawing, map, newspaper, magazine, pamphlet, broadside, manuscript, document, letter, public record, equipment, microform, sound recording, audiovisual materials in any format, magnetic or other tapes, electronic data processing records, artifacts, or other documentary, written, or printed material, regardless of physical form or characteristics, belonging to, on loan to, or otherwise in the custody of, any library, museum, archives, or repository of public or other records institution.
Rhode Island Code. Title 12 Criminal Procedure. Chapter 12-7 Arrest
Section 12-7-1 Temporary detention of suspects.
A peace officer may detain any person abroad whom he or she has reason to suspect is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a crime, and may demand of the person his or her name, address, business abroad, and destination; and any person who fails to identify himself or herself and explain his or her actions to the satisfaction of the peace officer may be further detained and further questioned and investigated by any peace officer; provided, in no case shall the total period of the detention exceed two (2) hours, and the detention shall not be recorded as an arrest in any official record. At the end of the detention period the person so detained shall be released unless arrested and charged with a crime.
See Rhode Island statutes online at:http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/Statutes.html
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