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Shoplifting is our nation’s “silent crime”.
Parents don’t want to believe it, schools don’t
address it, retailers don’t want to talk about it, police
don’t want to respond to it, courts don’t want
to deal with it and the people who do the shoplifting either
rationalize it as “no big deal” or are too ashamed
or too afraid to admit it.
As a result, shoplifting has become one of the most
prevalent crimes in the U.S., averaging about 550,000
incidents per day resulting in more than $13 billion
worth of goods being stolen from retailers each year. That
is more than $35 million in losses per day.
Current estimates are as high as 1 in 11 Americans who shoplift
in our nation today.
Even with all the advances in security measures, shoplifters
are only caught once in 49 times they steal and when caught,
turned over to the police only 50% of the time. This is due,
in part, to the fact that there is a trend away from shoplifter
apprehension and prosecution by retailers, law enforcement
and the courts as a way to cope with increasing costs, time
issues and legal liability. These issues and others lead to
the majority of shoplifting incidents going unrecognized,
unreported and unresolved. . .thereby perpetuating the problem.
Even so, reported shoplifting offenses are currently on the
rise according to the FBI Crime Index.
The shoplifting dilemma is compounded by the fact that the
crime is primarily committed by otherwise law-abiding citizens
enticed by the temptation and opportunity to “get something
for nothing” which presents itself as part of everyday
life. More than 10 million people have been caught shoplifting
in the last five years. This situation reflects an inherent
defect in our societal values which opens a gateway to corrupt
our youth and weaken our nation.
Shoplifting has traditionally been treated as a retail industry-specific
problem to be prevented exclusively by the retail victims
themselves. While it is true that shoplifting’s most
visible costs are to the retail industry, it is clearly not
solely a retail industry problem as many would like to believe.
Shoplifting hurts entire communities. Consider. . .
- The higher prices consumers must pay to cover the losses
from theft.
- The inconvenience and invasiveness of security measures
to consumers when shopping in stores.
- The loss of community jobs when stores are forced to
close.
- The loss of local and state sales tax revenue resulting
in higher taxes for everyone.
- The added burden on the police and the courts.
- The added financial and emotional hardship placed on
families resulting from the arrest of a parent or child.
- The corruption of our youth and our future, when dishonesty
is not effectively addressed at its most fundamental level.
Shoplifting has become a social issue in need of a community
response because shoplifting steals from all of us. Providing
an overarching, active community response to shoplifting is
essential to the future welfare of our society because the
crime directly affects so many people. Without comprehensive
community action we will continue to undermine current crime
prevention efforts, suffer economic loss and family hardship
and weaken the values of honesty, integrity and character
in our youth and our future.
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Professionals: People who steal for resale
and profit, as a lifestyle.
Non-professionals: People who steal from
retail stores but are, for the most part, otherwise decent,
law-abiding citizens.
Non-professional shoplifters account for the majority of
shoplifters in our nation today. These people are consumers
who generally know right from wrong and often have the money
to pay for the items they steal. Most steal only occasionally
(casual shoplifters) but approximately 1/3 have formed a habit
or addiction (habitual shoplifters) which compels them to
steal daily or at least weekly. Their behavior is less related
to criminal intent but more the result of situational, emotional
or psychological problems in need of attention and the current
national culture which treats shoplifting as “no big
deal” leading people to rationalize that it is somehow
“okay”.
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The great majority of people respect property rights and
do not steal. While some people comply with standards of honesty
for moral reasons, others conform because they fear ostracism
or punitive action.
At each end of the consumer spectrum there are small groups
of people with diametrically opposing attitudes towards stealing.
A small percentage of people are so honest they are rarely
even tempted and would never give in even if they were. Another
small percentage of the population would steal anything, anytime.
In between, there is a massive group of normally honest people
who may be influenced to steal under certain circumstances.
Within this group, come the hoards of non-professional shoplifters
who are inflicting tremendous losses upon the retail industry
and stealing from the quality of life of the communities in
which they live.
The act of shoplifting by non-professional shoplifters is
made up of three basic components; temptation, justification
and motivation.
Temptation
- The desire to have or do something that you know you
should avoid.
- When tempted, the shoplifter asks, “Should I
take this item?”
The urge to have more than basic needs lurks within most
people. The urge to “have” or “get”,
particularly without having to give something in return, is
innately appealing to most people. This is what is often called
the desire to “get something for nothing”.
This explains why people love to get gifts and consumers love
to find bargains or big sales.
However, society has created moral and legal taboos that
make it generally very difficult to get something for nothing
and stay within the rules. For most, the urge to get something
for nothing by breaking the social code is suppressed by fear
of committing a sin, fear of a damaged reputation, fear of
ostracism, fear of punishment and even fear of causing harm
to someone else.
The Consumer Dilemma - Suppose, however, a consumer
could satisfy the urge to “have” without spending
any money, without hurting anybody and without society finding
out. To a person who shoplifts, if it doesn’t really
hurt anyone it diminishes the moral fear. If no one finds
out it completely eliminates any social or punitive repercussions.
The development of the modern self-service retail environment
took down the barriers between customers and merchandise and
caused more normally honest people who know stealing is wrong,
to wonder if they could satisfy the urge to “have”
without repercussion. This is temptation.
Justification
- Something that shows an action to be reasonable, necessary
or okay.
- Under justification the shoplifter asks, “Is
it bad; will anyone get hurt?”
Our nation faces a social enigma where millions of people
are stealing billions of dollars worth of merchandise but
do not consider themselves to be criminals. Consumers who
shoplift have the ability to establish separate values when
in the stores from that which they generally live by in day
to day life. For example, most consumers who shoplift would
never take a $20 bill from their neighbor’s house even
if given the opportunity.
Justification is the precept used by consumers to tell themselves
there is really nothing wrong with taking merchandise from
a “store”. People must find some rationale which
allows them to take the merchandise and still remain convinced
they are not criminals. They must rationalize that the act
of taking merchandise will not really hurt anyone. Although
the rationalization used by a consumer who steals must have
some semblance of logic, when a person is angry or emotional,
justification can be accepted with less logic. “If the
checkout line hadn’t been so long, I wouldn’t
have taken the stuff”. There is, of course, nothing
logical about coming to the conclusion that a long checkout
line is a license to steal.
People who are under stress as a result of an incident in
the store or because of some personal problem are more prone
to accept irrational justification. They look around the store,
see thousands of different items worth hundreds of thousands
of dollars and find no trouble convincing themselves that
taking a few things will not really hurt anybody. Typical
justifications for shoplifting are:
“They will not miss what I take.”
“The stores have made plenty of money off me in the
past.”
“The big guys take plenty; I am entitled to a little
bit.”
“The checkout lines are too long.”
“Prices are too high.”
“Everybody else takes things.”
“I am entitled to some of the good things in life.”
“My family is entitled to some of the good things in
life.”
This, of course, is a partial list. The reasons people develop
to justify their shoplifting are endless.
Temptation is the urge to “have”, to get something
for nothing, and is linked directly to justification. Both
temptation and justification involve a thought process relating
to desire and acceptability. The third step in the shoplifting
act is motivation.
Motivation
- That which gives direction to behavior.
- At the motivation stage the shoplifter asks ”Will
I get caught and will anything bad happen to me if I do get
caught?”
A person can have temptation and justification but without
the motivation the act of shoplifting can not exist. Motivation
involves action. The determination that no one is watching
is the primary motivation for “honest” consumers
to steal. They want the item, they use irrational justification
to tell themselves they aren’t hurting anyone and then
determine if they can get the item without fear of negative
consequence. If so, the shoplifting act takes place.
In summary, consumers who shoplift often give in to temptation
because of irrational justifications which, in part, come
from a lack of understanding as to how shoplifting relates
to society and themselves. They don’t understand (or
allow themselves to believe) that anyone really gets hurt
and that shoplifting steals from all of us. They erroneously
believe the stores can afford the losses and that they won’t
get caught.
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