Treat library books with care. Not just as a matter of respect for the printed page, but also to avoid unintentionally committing a crime.
Chapter 6 of the Utah Criminal Code focuses on property crimes. Part 8 of the chapter is devoted entirely to misdemeanor and felony crimes specifically involving library materials.
Utah Code section 76-6-803 establishes a library crime that you may have committed without even knowing it.
Mutilation or Damage of Library Materials
The crime of “mutilation or damage of library materials” applies when a person “writes upon, injures, defaces, tears, cuts, mutilates, destroys, or otherwise damages library materials.” 76-6-803(2).
The crime applies not just when the person acts intentionally, but also when the person acts recklessly with regard to the outcome of the actions taken..
Consider the following examples. While we would not forever condemn a person who engaged in this kind of conduct, these are examples of behavior that falls within the statutes definition of criminal conduct.
- No Coffee or Hot Cocoa: Don’t read a book while sipping your favorite warm beverage. You might spill your drink and recklessly damage the book.
- No Small Children: Children who have access to books without close supervision have been known to draw and scribble in books, tear or wrinkle pages, and to suck on or chew the corners and bindings. If you are aware of this risk, but choose to ignore it — that’s reckless behavior under the law.
- No Dropping: Never drop a book – especially a heavy book. Even if you just drop it on a soft surface, like a bed, the book’s own weight can pull the cover loose from the binding.
- No Folding: Dog-eared pages are considered damage. Much worse is the damage that occurs when you fold over the cover on a paperback book. Sure, it’s easier to hold the book with one hand that way while you read, but it can destroy the binding.
- Nothing Thicker Than a Bookmark: Don’t stick a pen or pencil in the book to hold your place. Anything thicker than an ordinary bookmark can break the spine or damage the binding.
- No Beach, No Bath, No Pool: Reading at the beach or by the pool on vacation? Relaxing with a good book while you soak in a hot bath after a hard day? You’re just begging for some serious water damage. Don’t do it.
The level of a charge for damaging library materials generally depends on the value of the materials damaged. Amounts under $1,500 generally are filed at the misdemeanor level. Higher values, or damage caused by a person with a prior criminal history, can result in felony charges.
Crimes You Might Commit and Never Even Know
This article is part of an ongoing series looking at some of the lesser-known crimes on the books in Utah. There are literally thousands of misdemeanor and felony crimes established under Utah law. Some of them are very narrow and focused. Others are defined so broadly that they can apply to conduct that is common among those we would otherwise consider to be law-abiding members of our community, good neighbors and friends.