Shocking Stats on Shoplifting

While a form of larceny/theft itself, shoplifting differs from other forms of theft in that the victim is an organization, the definition is constrained to retailers, and the crime is far more pervasive than other forms of theft from organizations (e.g. embezzlement, fraud, shipment diversion/transport crime, grand theft, bank robbery).

Whereas there is a strong gender divide in most other crimes, shoplifting has a relatively even split between genders.  Additional facts:

• 25% of shoplifters are teens, a disproportionate demographic
• 55% of shoplifters say they started in their teenaged years
• 89% of teenagers say they know other teens who shoplift, and 69% hang out with those known shoplifters
• Many shoplifters will steal and purchase goods in the same visit
• Typical theft is in the range between $2 and $200 per incident (admittedly a very broad range)
• Shoplifters report being caught 1/48 of the time, and are turned over to police once caught about 50% of the time
• Habitual shoplifters steal, on average, 1.6 times per week.
• Wal*Mart's loss prevention department reports an average of 1 million shoplifting incidents per year, and estimates the impact of these losses as $77million that are passed along to their customers.
• The FBI reports shoplifting as the fastest-growing larceny, at a CAGR of 20%
• The estimated cost to US taxpayers of shoplifting is more than $16Billion

(source: Compulsive No More Stop, compulsivenomorestop.com, http://compulsivenomorestop.com/Shoplifting_Facts.html)

If left unchecked, shoplifting will continue to be a substantial drain on the economy.  Further, I think unabated shoplifting is an example of the kind of social disorder event that the Broken Windows Theory of criminology (James Q. Wilson, George L. Kelling) was speaking to.  Unchecked shoplifting promotes lawlessness and breakdown of the social contract, and is a gateway crime to more serious societal issues that can cause millions per criminal.  Shoplifting deserves serious attention to stop the degradation it causes in our society.  Yet, it seems that shoplifting doesn't get the serious attention of law enforcement (See this example in Dallas: http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2011/12/new-dallas-poli.html/ ).  To be effective at prevention, law enforcement, store owners and the community will need to work together to curb shoplifting and address this blight.