In most states in the United States, shoplifting is a misdemeanor crime of petty larceny when specifically committed against a retail establishment by a patron. The law does not distinguish between shoplifting and other forms of petty larceny, although a judge may consider the context of any crime in sentencing.
In some jurisdictions of the United States, certain egregious instances of shoplifitng involving large dollar amounts of merchandise and/or a high degree of criminal sophistication may be prosecuted and punished as burglary.