Shoplifting

I can honestly say that i have never shoplifted. I could claim that it's because I've never been desperate enough, but i could then point out that you haven't necessarily got to be desperate or poor to steal. The Hollywood actress, Winona Ryder was caught shoplifting a few years back. I'm certain that it wasn't because she was poor, so then why would a Hollywood star sink to petty theft when she had so much at stake? I think it's because shoplifting draws in the thrill seekers, looking for a free thrill that comes with rewards, as well as an adrenaline rush! It's true that many criminals get an addiction to stealing and can't give it up, and accordingly the dictionary states that Kleptomania is "an obsessive urge to steal, especially when there is no economic necessity".

I work in retail, and i had not realised how bad the shoplifting situation was. I regularly walk round the store and find empty boxes of expensive creams and make-up, or the odd packs of tablets with a few removed. Some of the theft appears pointless and sometimes it seems as if the store has become a "free for all". But I think about, not the ones who steal for the "buzz" but the ones who are desperate and how bad their life must have become to force them to steal.

Some people steal because they are desperate and need to feed their families or themselves. I still don't think it's right, but if i needed to steal to survive, I would. Shoplifting is different to stealing someones possessions, for example, going into a house and stealing their new plasma TV or mugging someone on the street is different because its stealing someones actual possessions, where as shoplifting is not. Other forms of stealing can also be violent where as shoplifting tends to take the discreet approach. I am not suggesting that shoplifting is acceptable, but I am not condoning it as the worst criminal offence either.

For more information and statistics visit, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4477596.stm. What do people shoplift? WHO, WHAT, WHY?