Shoplifting in America By Andrew Beran
Shoplifting is America’s number one property crime, and $20 billion worth of goods are stolen every year. Nine percent of people shoplift in America and one fourth of these people are under the age of 18. The two main kinds of shoplifting are petty theft and grand theft. The consequences of shoplifting range from being banned from the store to community service hours, fines, and even time in prison.
If the value of the object stolen is $50-$400 and it is a first offence the crime is classified as petty theft. In that case it is usually is charged as a misdemeanor. If the value of the object stolen is over $400 dollars and not a first offence it is considered a grand theft. Then most of the time those offences are charged as felonies. These can be punishable up to one year in county jail or 16 months in California state prison.
There are different reasons why people shoplift. Some people go into a store not intending to shoplift. Some people plan to shoplift. The people who don’t intend to shoplift go in to the store and see the item. Most of the time they steal it because it looks easy and no one is looking at them. They may think they won’t harm the store because the store makes a lot of money. Maybe they have a grudge against the store and take something because they are angry. With the people who intend to shoplift, they often bring a few people with them to keep a watch out or steal more items. After they steal the items they sell them at swap meets, garage sales, and maybe even return them to the same retail store, but at a different location. Sadly most of these shoplifters are homeless, poor, drug addicts, and or addicted to alcohol. However I was surprised to see a video of the famous actress, Winona Ryder shoplifting from a expensive clothes store.
There are many ways to catch a shoplifter. Some of these are surveillance cameras, undercover security shoppers, and tags on items that set off an alarm. When I visited the FBI offices they told me how surveillance cameras are used. These cameras are put all around a store and are hooked up to monitors so store employees can watch to make sure no one is going to leave the store without paying for an item. If the shoplifter were to get away, then the police can use the tape from the surveillance camera as evidence to track down the shoplifter. An undercover security shopper is a policeman or woman who dresses up as an employee or customer and walks around the store. They do this so they can follow suspicious people without them knowing. If they see someone stealing then the undercover cop can quickly catch and arrest them. Lastly there are the special tags on the products that set off the alarm if they are stolen. When the item gets scanned at the cash register it demagnetizes the tag so it will no longer set off the alarm. If none of these work the police can use evidence to track down the goods that were stolen I learned at the police station that an employee can make a citizen’s arrest and wait for the cop to take them to prison, if there is not a cop present.
With shoplifting there are consequences. For example I saw a story on the Internet of a person who stole a $20 dollar object from Hollister and had to pay 200 dollars in fines. So that is 10 times the original price. The size of the fine depends on what store you are in and what you steal. One option that the offender can choose is to do community service hours. Doing community service won’t always get rid of the fine, but it can reduce it. The offender can also be sentenced to prison if the property that was stolen has a high value, and it is not the first offence. The offender then is often not allowed back in the place of business that that the crime occurred.
I have always known stealing is wrong, but I did not know how severe the consequence could be for stealing something small. If I was out with one of my friends and they put a DVD in their bag I would say “Hey put that back, you could be fined over 200 dollars for that. You might not be even allowed back in the store. This is serious business!”
Bibliography
rodriguez, Steven. “shoplifting | Los Angeles shoplifting attorneys | shoplifting defense attorneys.” lacriminaldefenseattorney.com. N.p., 2005. Web. 27 Mar 2011. <http://www.lacriminaldefenseattorney.com/Shoplifting.html>.
“Shoplifting penalty for a first timer.” expertlaw.com. N.p., 11-11-2006 . Web. 27 Mar 2011. <http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16846&page=1>.
