Theft is taking something that belongs to someone else without their permission and with no intention of giving it back. When someone steals a bicycle from a yard, shoplifts candy from a store, or takes money from a wallet, they're committing theft.

The key difference between theft and borrowing is intention. If you borrow your friend's pencil and plan to return it, that's not theft. But if you take their pencil and keep it as your own, or take it knowing you won't give it back, that's theft.

Theft breaks trust between people. When theft happens, it causes problems: stores may need to raise prices to cover losses, libraries struggle to serve everyone when books go missing, and people become less willing to trust their neighbors. The law treats theft seriously because property rights matter in how communities function.