NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Shoplift

Shoplifting (also known as retail theft or simply lifting) is theft of merchandise for sale in a shop, and money from cash register retail establishment, by an ostensible patron. It is one of the most common crimes for police and courts. Image File history File links Gnome-globe. ... Everyday instance of theft: the bike which fits on this wheel has disappeared. ... Drawing of a self-service store. ... A trial at the Old Bailey in London as drawn by Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin for Ackermanns Microcosm of London (1808-11). ...

Most shoplifters are amateurs; however, there are people and groups who make their living from shoplifting, and they tend to be more skilled. Some individuals shoplift in an effort to resist selling their labor, and/or to protest corporate power. These individuals target--often exclusively--chain stores; Wal-Mart is an especially popular target for political shoplifters. (see Evasion) Some counter this by arguing that costs of theft are not absorbed by the targeted company, but instead may result in price increases.^[1] Therefore, shoplifting is thought to ultimately harm paying consumers, some of whom may be shopping at places such as Wal-Mart because they are poor and have few other options. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ... Evasion is a book that spun off from a zine of the same name. ...

A common slang term for shoplifting in Australia and the United States is "five-finger discount". The "five-finger" aspect of the term refers to fact there are five fingers on the hand which is used to grab the stolen merchandise. In the U.S., it is often referred to as "jacking" or "racking" and in the UK as "nicking" or "chaving". Professional shoplifters or organized shoplifting groups are often referred to as "boosters." Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ... Look up chav, charva in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Economic impact and response from shops

Retailers report that shoplifting has significant effect on their bottom line, stating that about 0.6% of all inventory disappears to shoplifters. In 2001 it was claimed that shoplifting cost US retailers $25 million a day. Other observers, however, believe industry shoplifting numbers to be greatly exaggerated. Studies have found that over half of what is reported as shoplifting is either employee theft or fraud. Shrinkage has multiple meanings, depending on the context. ...

According to the 2001 National Retail Security Survey conducted by the University of Florida retail operations suffered an average annual shrinkage percentage of 1.75% in 2000. Although most retailers experience a shrinkage percentage of less than 2% some smaller retailers often experience monthly and annual average shrinkage percentages as high as 20%. According to a study by the National Retail Security Survey 30.6% of shrinkage comes from shoplifting, 46% from employee embezzlement, 17.6% from administrative error, and 5.8% from vendor fraud. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Companies have introduced many technologies to combat shoplifting. Many stores have video cameras filming all areas of the store; larger stores are often patrolled by undercover investigators. Security devices are often affixed to products that set off alarms at the store exit if they are not deactivated or removed by a cashier. Loss prevention is a form of private investigation into larceny or theft. ... For the use of the term Electronic article to mean an electronic version of a journal article, see:electronic article Electronic article surveillance is a technological method for preventing shoplifting from retail stores or pilferage of books from libraries. ...

According to the 2004 17th Annual Retail Theft survey conducted by Jack L. Hayes International, 689,340 shoplifters were apprehended by 27 of the major U.S. retailers. This figure was a 4.86% increase from a total of 657,414 shoplifters apprehended in 2003. In 2004 $70,039,564 dollars were recovered from shoplifting apprehensions compared to $68,927,833 in 2003. In 2004, the average dollar value for a shoplifting apprehension was $101.60 dollars.

A common rationalization for engaging in shoplifting is that items are overpriced and honestly paying for items serves only to line the pockets of executives with their monstrous pay packages, thus those struggling to make ends meet should "fight back". This argument is dispelled by the fact that loss in stores serves only to hurt honest customers with higher prices. However it is countered that higher prices will eventually damage the targeted retail store if customers decide not to buy goods there anymore and seek cheaper prices elsewhere. Look up Rationalization on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Rationalization can refer to more than one thing: In psychology, rationalization is the process of constructing a logical justification for a decision that was originally arrived at through a different mental process. ...

Types of shoplifters

Shoplifters can be store patrons of any age or ethnic group. Store employees and security personnel can also be shoplifters.

Legal status in different countries

Canada

There is no specific offense of "shoplifting" under Canadian law. Instead, shoplifting is covered under the general provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada that deal with theft. According to section 322 of the Code theft is defined as taking or converting anything fraudulently and without colour of right, with the intent to deprive the owner of it, either permanently or temporarily. For punishment purposes, section 334 of the Code then categorizes theft according to the value and nature of the goods that are stolen. If the goods are worth less than $5000 the maximum possible punishment is 2 years imprisonment and/or $2000.00 in fines, while if the stolen goods are worth $5000 or more, or are a testamentary instrument, the crime may be punished by imprisonment for up to 10 years. However, first offenders often face only extrajudicial sanctions. The Canadian Criminal Code (formal title An Act respecting the Criminal Law) is the codification of most of the criminal offenses and procedure in Canada. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

United States

In most states in the United States, shoplifting is a misdemeanor crime of petty larceny when specifically committed against a retail establishment by a patron. Some states do not distinguish between shoplifting and other forms of petty larceny, although a judge may consider the context of any crime in sentencing. A misdemeanor, or misdemeanour, in many common law legal systems, is a lesser criminal act. ... In the United States, larceny is a common law crime involving stealing. ... In law, a sentence forms the final act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. ...

In some jurisdictions within the United States, certain egregious instances of shoplifting involving large dollar amounts of merchandise and/or a high degree of criminal sophistication may be prosecuted and punished as burglary or otherwise as a felony. The dollar amount to constitute felony shoplifting can range from being quite low such as $100 in Vermont, to quite high such as $2,500 in Wisconsin. In some states a high dollar amount can constitute a higher felony, a prime example being Arizona where a shoplifting incident greater than $2,000 constitutes a class five felony. For the record label, see Felony Records The term felony is a term used in common law systems for very serious crimes, whereas misdemeanors are considered to be less serious offenses. ... Official language(s) None Capital Madison Largest city Milwaukee Area Ranked 23rd - Total 65,498 sq mi (169,790 kmÂ²) - Width 260 miles (420 km) - Length 310 miles (500 km) - % water 17 - Latitude 42Â°30N to 47Â°3N - Longitude 86Â°49W to 92Â°54W Population Ranked...

Shoplifting can lead to far more serious charges than normally would be assumed. In most states an employee who shoplifts from their employer can be charged with shoplifting and embezzlement. In Arizona a shoplifter who is caught attempting to steal without any means of payment is guilty of third degree burglary. In Illinois a shoplifter who resists detainment is guilty of aggravated battery. In some U.S. jurisdictions, a repeat misdemeanor shoplifting offender can be charged with a felony for recidivism. Official language(s) English Spoken language(s) English 74. ... Recidivism is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have either experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been treated or trained to extinguish that behavior. ...

Exactly when the crime of shoplifting has been committed varies from state to state. Most commonly, statutes dictate that a person must leave a retail store with intent not to purchase an item before they can be detained. Some states such as Arizona have more strict shoplifting statutes. According to Arizona law 13-1805 subsection B "Any person who knowingly conceals upon himself or another person unpurchased merchandise of a mercantile establishment while within the mercantile establishment shall be presumed to have the necessary culpable mental state pursuant to subsection A of this section."

Some recidivist shoplifters in the United States have been given long sentences under three-strikes laws, such as Leandro Andrade, who received a sentence of 50 years to life; such sentences have been affirmed as neither cruel nor unusual punishment by the U.S. Supreme Court. See also Fixing Broken Windows for an explanation of the theory underlying such laws. Three strikes laws are a category of statutes enacted by state governments in the United States, beginning in the 1990s, to mandate long periods of imprisonment for persons convicted of a felony on three (or more) separate occasions. ... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... Broken windows in the Pruitt-Igoe housing development Fixing Broken Windows: Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities by George L. Kelling and Catherine Coles is a criminology book published in 1996, about petty crime and strategies to contain or eliminate it from urban neighbourhoods. ...

United Kingdom

There is no specific offence of shoplifting in the UK and offenders are usually charged with the offence of theft but are liable to be made subject to orders for restitution and compensation by the criminal courts. Everyday instance of theft: the bike which fits on this wheel has disappeared. ...

Increasingly, retail companies are using the civil courts as a means of recovering compensation and obtaining exclusion orders where appropriate. In addition, companies are issuing exclusion letters to offenders and those they suspect, as a means of attempting to encourage the police to charge those arrested for theft with burglary on the basis that they are trespassers. This remains a controversial issue and, generally, the police are reluctant to charge with the more serious offence.

Rights

Store operator

In the state of California, and in most cases the rest of the United States and other countries, store employees and managers have certain powers of arrest. Store Officials may detain for investigation (a reasonable length of time), whom they have probable cause to believe is attempting to take or has unlawfully taken merchandise.^[2] Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area Ranked 3rd - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 kmÂ²) - Width 250 miles (400 km) - Length 770 miles (1,240 km) - % water 4. ...

In the state of California, merchants may conduct a limited search to recover the item by those authorized to make the detention. Only packages, shopping bags, handbags or other property in the immediate possession of the person detained may be searched, but not any clothing worn by the person, pursuant to subdivision.^[3]

Anyone, other than a peace officer, who arrests a person without a warrant shall forthwith deliver the person to a peace officer.^[4]

A main fear of a store operator is an accused shoplifter would press charges on the business or the owner. Even if the accused had stolen from the establishment, the business may still run the risk of a lawsuit due to variables that may have occurred during the entire process. That's why many large franchises have very strict guidelines of how to handle shoplifters.

Accused shoplifters rights

An accused shoplifter has many rights that protect them from being falsely detained. An accused is subject to the many of the same rights as would be present in an arrest from sworn law enforcement, such as the right to remain silent.

False imprisonment is the unlawful restraint of someone that affects the person’s freedom of movement. Both the threat of being physically confined and actually being physically confined can be considered false imprisonment if the customer is not free to leave. A store that performs receipt checks may not perform an arrest if a customer refuses to have their receipt checked.^[5] A receipt is a written acknowledgement that a specified article or sum of money has been received. ...

Anti-shoplifting options

Closed circuit television

CCTV monitoring is an important anti shoplifting method. Retailers focused on loss prevention often devote most of their resources to this technology. Surveillance cameras. ...

Electronic article surveillance

Electronic article surveillance is second only to CCTV in popularity amongst retailers looking for inventory protection. EAS refers to the security tags that attach to a garment and cause an alarm to sound when removed from the store. For the use of the term Electronic article to mean an electronic version of a journal article, see:electronic article Electronic article surveillance is a technological method for preventing shoplifting from retail stores or pilferage of books from libraries. ...

Phony shoppers

Loss Prevention personnel will patrol the store acting as if they are real shoppers. They may try on merchandise and browse the racks, all the while looking for signs of shoplifting and looking for possible shoplifters. Many large retail companies utilize this technique, and will watch a shoplifter conceal an item then stop them after they have exited the store.

Uniformed guards

Mostly used by high end retail establishments. The presence of a uniformed guard acts as a deterrent to shoplifting activity.

Exit inspections

Costco shoppers are familiar with this. No shopping cart gets out the door until its contents are compared against the register tape. In most of the US, however, shoppers are under no obligation to accede to a search unless the employee has reasonable grounds to suspect shoplifting. All retail employees are instructed not to block the exit in the face of a customer determined to leave without showing the receipt.^[6]^[7]

Close customer service

Floor attendants are instructed to greet, follow, and offer help with their shopping. Shoplifters are not comfortable with this attention and will go somewhere else where they can work unnoticed.

BOB mirrors

Bottom of basket mirrors are commonly used in grocery stores where the check out lanes are close together and the cashier might be unable to see the entire basket to ensure there are no items being unpaid for.

Locked merchandise

Some merchandise will be in a locked case requiring an employee to get items at a customer's request. The customer is either required to purchase the merchandise immediately or it is left at the checkout area for the customer to purchase when finishing shopping. This prevents the customer from having a chance to conceal the item.

Another formed of locked merchandise is especially popular with liquor. A secure, store- administered hard-plastic cap is placed on the regular bottle top that cannot be removed without a store key. Once it is purchased the clerk will remove it, otherwise the shoplifter must struggle to open the bottle as the cap is designed to be extremely difficult to remove.

Personnel policy

The choice of store and security personnel can strongly affect the ability of shoplifters to succeed. All personnel must be trained in the techniques shoplifters use to steal merchandise and the proper actions to take.

Famous cases

Probably the most famous legal case involving shoplifting occurred in 2001 when actress Winona Ryder was arrested for shoplifting at Saks Fifth Avenue department store in Beverly Hills, California. Ryder was eventually convicted of misdemeanor theft and vandalism.^[8] In 2003, Will & Grace actress Shelley Morrison (who played Rosario Salazar) was arrested for shoplifting at a Robinsons-May store in California; the charges were later dropped. In early 2006, former White House aide Claude Allen was arrested for an alleged return scam at a Target store in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Jean Eaton, while mayor of Albert Lea, MN, was accused of stealing hundreds of dollars worth of clothing from Marshall Field's stores in Rochester, Edina and St. Cloud in an alleged clothing swap scam. Eaton had claimed that police acted illegally when they executed a search warrant that gathered evidence used to support a felony theft charge against her. Eaton later reached a plea agreement with Olmsted County prosecutor's by entering into an adult diversion program, which includes restitution, and possibly community service to have the felony charges dropped. Winona Ryder (born October 29, 1971) is a two-time Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning American actress. ... This article contains a trivia section. ... The interior of a typical Macys department store. ... Beverly Hills is a city in the western part of Los Angeles County, California. ... Will & Grace is a popular Emmy Award winning and Golden Globe nominated American television sitcom that was originally broadcast from 1998 to 2006. ... Shelley Morrison (born October 26, 1936 in New York City) is an American actress. ... Rosario Inez Consuelo Yolanda Salazar (also known as Rosie and Ro-Ro) is a character on the American television sitcom Will & Grace. ... Robinsons-May is the current name used by a chain of department stores operating in the Southern California, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada, previously with headquarters in North Hollywood, California. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area Ranked 3rd - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 kmÂ²) - Width 250 miles (400 km) - Length 770 miles (1,240 km) - % water 4. ... For other uses, see White House (disambiguation). ... Claude Alexander Allen, Former Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy Claude Alexander Allen (born October 11, 1960) was the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy in George W. Bushs White House and a former nominee for a judgeship on the United States Court of Appeals for the... Refund theft is a type of crime, related to shoplifting, which involves returning goods to a retailer, in exchange for money or other goods. ... This article is about the United States retail company. ... Location in the State of Maryland Coordinates: , Country United States State Maryland County Montgomery Founded 1802 Incorporated April 5, 1878 Government - Mayor Sidney A. Katz Area - City 10. ... For other uses, see Marshall Fields (disambiguation). ...

Kleptomania

Some shoplifters (who are almost invariably - and erroneously - labelled as suffering from kleptomania) are persons who clinical investigator Dr. Will Cupchik has labelled 'Atypical Theft Offenders'. These usually honest persons may steal in response to personally meaningful losses and/or other stressors. His book, Why Honest People Shoplift or Commit Other Acts of Theft (2002) provides data and conclusions of two studies conducted by Dr. Cupchik, as well as assessment and treatment methods. The major reasons that these persons should not be labelled as kleptomaniacs has to do with the fact that there are virtually always external triggering events that can be identified as just preceding the theft activity, and the fact that the stealing is virtually always an act of vengeance carried out in anger (although seldom recognized as such by the offender). The existence of an external trigger and the feelings of anger and desire for vengeance are factors that, according to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, would exclude the diagnosis of 'kleptomania'. Kleptomania (Greek: ÎºÎ»ÎÏ€Ï„ÎµÎ¹Î½, kleptein, to steal, Î¼Î±Î½Î¯Î±, mania) is an inability or great difficulty in resisting impulses of stealing. ...

References

Abbott Howard Abbie Hoffman (November 30, 1936 â€“ April 12, 1989) was a self-identified communo-anarchist,[1] social and political activist in the United States, co-founder of the Youth International Party (Yippies), and later, a fugitive from the law, who lived under an alias following a conviction for dealing... Cover of Steal this Book Steal This Book is a book written by Abbie Hoffman in 1970 and published in 1971. ...

Books

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