What is it that tempts approximately 23 million Americans to steal from retail stores each year, knowing that they may get caught and prosecuted? Is it need, is it greed, or is it something else?

Except for drug addicts and hardened professionals who steal for resale and profit, most shoplifters are otherwise decent law-abiding citizens. The vast majority of offenders have no idea about how or why they become a thief, or why they continue to shoplift, even after getting caught.

Each year, retailers, police, prosecutors and judges see thousands of shoplifters whose overall lifestyle is not that of a typical thief or criminal. For example:

They don't use shoplifting paraphernalia They don't use drugs They carry proper identification They have no prior criminal record (except perhaps for shoplifting) They don't associate with known criminals They usually have the money to pay for what they stole They frequently have a job and a family They steal things they don't really need and often don't use

 

While these shoplifters should be processed through the criminal justice system, often there is little understanding of why they committed the offense and what kind of treatment is appropriate to help reduce recidivism.

The criminal justice system currently administers several different types of punitive sanctions such as a fine, community service, probation and jail.

While these sanctions help offenders to pay their debt back to society, they don't provide the kind of support that many shoplifters need to help them get to the "root cause" of their shoplifting behavior, so they are no longer prone to repeat the offense.

As the criminal justice system strives to increase its effectiveness in reducing recidivism, the educational component must be incorporated as an additional sanction for shoplifters.