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Shoplifting is a common crime that occurs when someone steals merchandise offered for sale from a retail store. Shoplifting from retail stores costs mechants an estimated loss of 13 billion dollars per year.

To be convicted of shoplifting, one must "intend" to permanently deprive the merchant of the value of the merchandise. Merchants are often confused about the procedures for lawfully detaining someone suspected of theft from their store. What are the rights of the merchant? What are the rights of the customer? How much force can be used to detain someone who has stolen merchandise.

Shoplifter Profile

Shoplifters come in all shapes and sizes, ages and sexes, and vary in ethnic background, education, and economic status. Some shoplifters steal for the excitement, some steal out of desire, some steal for need, some steal out of peer pressure, and some steal because it is simply a business transaction to them. Some shoplifters are compulsive, some opportunistic, and some are mentally ill and don't know any better. Some shoplifters are desperate from drug addiction, alcoholism, or from living on the street. Children and elderly persons sometime steal without realizing they are committing a crime. Most shoplifters try to rationalize their crime by thinking the large retailer can afford the loss.

In urban cities, it is not unusual to find a network of fences that send out teams of shoplifters into specific retail stores to shoplift specific items, much like filling an order for a customer. These fences only pay 10-20 cents on the dollar to the thieves, but sometimes pay their room, board, and provide training on how to steal and defeat the anti-theft technology. Some fences have been known to bail their workers out of jail when caught or provide for their legal defense. This creates a kind of strange street loyalty much like the tale of Oliver Twist.

Cost of Shoplifting

Theft from stores, including employee and vendor theft, cost retailers many billions of dollars per year. Independent retail studies* have estimated theft from retail stores costs the American public 33.21 billion dollars per year. Depending on the type of retail store, retail inventory loss ranges from .7%-2.2% of gross sales with the average falling around 1.70%. Whole retail store chains have gone out of business due to their inability to control retail theft losses. And worse yet, the cost of these losses are passed on to us...the consumer.

Shoplifting losses vary by store type, but can account for about one-third of the total inventory shrinkage. It is estimated that shoplifting occurs 330 - 440 million times per year at a loss of $10-$13 billion dollars. Nationwide, that equates to 1.0-1.2 million shoplift incidents everyday at a loss rate of $19,000-$25,300 dollars stolen per minute. When you factor in employee and vendor theft, this sum skyrockets to an estimate of over $33 billion dollars stolen per year.

Why Do Shoplifters Steal?

by Peter Berlin

In simple and concise terms... "TO GET SOMETHING FOR NOTHING."

While we all like to get things for free and the stores are constantly promoting and placing merchandise on "SALE" to generate excitement about getting a bargain, most people don't cross over the line and steal the item. But some people do. Why?

The answer is... to most non-professional shoplifters, "getting something for nothing" is like giving themselves a "gift" or "reward," which in turn gives them a "lift." Many people feel they need a "lift" just to get through the week or even the day. A study by MasterCard International found that shopping was second only to dining as the primary way people reward themselves. Take it one step further and you can see how "shoplifting" the merchandise increases the reward.

Getting Something for Nothing

It's important to understand that "getting something for nothing" always represents something more to the shoplifter than the value of the merchandise. For different people it can represent any of the following things:

• For some, it's a "substitute for loss" because they perceived they were unfairly deprived in some way (i.e., a divorce, a serious illness, death of a loved one, loss of income from a job or investments, or an unexpected expense which can cause people to feel needy). Stealing a bottle of shampoo, for example, can temporarily help to relieve the anxiety about their financial situation and gives them a feeling that they are more in control.
• For others, it's "justified payback" for all they give to others and how little they get back in return.
• For some, it's a "relief mechanism" for anxiety, frustration, boredom or depression.

Several studies have found diagnosed depression to exist in approximately 1/3 of the shoplifters studied. Depression was the most frequently found physiological problem. This helps to explain why so many shoplifters steal from stores on their birthday and around holiday times.

Any way you look at it, shoplifters perceive shoplifting as a form of self nourishment or as a way to relieve fear or pain in their life. In truth, shoplifting is self-destructive not self-nourishing, but shoplifters often can’t see the paradox.

For almost all non-professional shoplifters, stealing from stores is basically a reflection of a person's ability (or inability) to cope with a multitude of situations in his or her life. It's a response to their personal life situations. While these unhappy life situations may not easily be changed (or may recur from time to time) shoplifters must learn how to cope with these situations in a way that's not harmful to themselves or others. This may not be easy to achieve, because approximately 27 percent of shoplifters caught for the first time have already developed a shoplifting habit or even an addiction. Many admit that it will be hard for them to stop shoplifting... even after getting caught.

In summary, shoplifting for millions of our citizens, is simply another maladaptive way of coping with stressful life circumstances...similar to overeating, drinking, drugs or gambling. It is not an issue of good vs. bad people, rich vs. poor, young vs. old or education vs. illiteracy. At any time, or even many times in a person's life, the temptation to "get something for nothing" and the desire to reward oneself can easily be present. By raising public awareness about the problem and delivering needed programs and services to people who shoplift, communities who engage in prevention efforts will reduce the number of people who become involved and improve the quality of life for all.

A person's addiction to shoplifting can develop quickly when the excitement generated from "getting away with it" produces a chemical reaction (i.e. adrenaline, etc.) resulting in what shoplifters describe as an incredible "rush" or "high" feeling, which many shoplifters will tell you is the "true reward," rather than the merchandise itself. In addition to feeling good, shoplifters quickly observe this "high" temporarily eliminates their feelings of anger, frustration, depression or other unhappiness in their life. Realizing how easy it is to get that "high" feeling, they are pulled toward doing it again..."just one more time"...and their addiction begins to develop. Even though most non-professional shoplifters feel guilty, ashamed or remorseful about what they did, and are fearful of getting caught, the pull is too strong for many to resist.

Of course, some people don't see shoplifting as a functional or psychological problem. They say, "What do you mean that a person can't stop shoplifting? Of course they can, they're just greedy". The idea that shoplifting is an addiction, “except for a few kleptomaniacs", is ridiculous, they say. “People who shoplift should go to jail and not be coddled or told they have an addiction.” This is like telling them it's okay to steal because they really can't help it.

The irony is that most shoplifters who have developed a habit or addiction believe they should be punished according to the law when caught. What offenders often resent, however, is when they are simply thrown into jail with hardened career criminals and are not given the help or support they need to help prevent them from repeating the offense.