Larceny, burglary, and robbery all usually involve the theft of something; however, the letter of the law does state that a person doesn't actually have to steal anything to commit burglary. Burglary requires that a person enter into a building without consent, and then that person must commit another crime. That crime could be theft, but it doesn't have to. Robbery differs from burglary because entrance into a structure of some kind isn't necessary. Robbery occurs when a person steals something that belongs to another person and uses force, threats, intimidation, and/or a weapon to complete the theft. The key to robbery is that it is a violent crime. Larceny is different because while it involves stealing/theft, no violent action occurs. Larceny is different from burglary in that the person committing the crime is in the building with consent. An example of larceny is shoplifting. Go into the store, take the candy bar off of the shelf, put it in your pocket, and walk out. You were there during normal business hours and stole something without using violence against a person.

The two types of larceny are simple and grand. Grand larceny is committed when the person steals something of value greater than the state's maximum for simple larceny. The maximum is not always the same from state to state.