Shoplifting and the Law

Some have called shoplifting the silent crime that is plaguing the US. Shoplifting for some people is considered their full time job, and retail organized crime is abundant in this country.  Shoplifting affects small business owners tremendously and  the retail industry as a whole lose millions of dollars yearly passing the loss to the consumer and therefore affecting you financially.

Shoplifting is a serious crime ,and some states are taking strong measures to make sure the penalties applied to the shoplifter are harsh. To read more follow the links below.

Retail merchants fear theft bill will increase crime

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) –

Retail Merchants of Hawaii president Sheri Sakamoto said a bill to raise the threshold for felony theft from $300 to $750 will encourage shoplifters to steal more.

“It will really affect retailers specifically. They now can steal up to $749.99 and have less consequences to their crime,” she said

Rep. Karl Rhoads is chairman of the House Judiciary committee. He said the bill targets agricultural theft, and shoplifting is considered separate but prosecutors do have leeway. “Even if the Governor signs this bill it’s still a crime to steal amounts between $300 and $750, it’s just the penalty is not as high,” he said.

Theft is a Class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. Advocates for raising the dollar threshold say $300 is way too low, and it costs taxpayers about $49,000 a year to incarcerate an offender. “So when we’re talking about property crime that’s under $1,000 and we’re paying $134 a day, you’ve got to start looking at that and saying, That really doesn’t pencil out,” Community Alliance on Prisons advocate Kat Brady said.

Shoplifting gangs operating on ‘industrial scale’

PROSECUTORS have vowed to smash serious organised crime groups who are using “steal to order” shoplifting to fund their illegal activities.

The Crown Office said shoplifting was happening on an “industrial scale”, with some groups travelling from overseas to target Scottish retailers.

More than 200 people have now been identified as being involved in what prosecutors called “professional shoplifting”.

Solicitor General Lesley Thomson said specialist prosecutors had worked closely with a dedicated police inquiry team during the past year to dismantle shoplifting groups, who specialise in targeting expensive clothing and designer handbags.

Battling The $36 Billion U.S. Problem Of Retail Shrinkage Losses

The financial cost of retail shrinkage is huge. The latest Annual Shrink Report issued by Dr. Richard Hollinger and Dr. Read Hayes at the University of Florida puts the total at $36 billion annually.

Shrinkage has several causes: customers shoplifting , employee theft, supplier fraud and administrative errors.

Frequent inventories and accounting audits counts can catch administrative errors and supplier fraud. But stopping shrinkage caused by theft is a larger undertaking.

“There are two kinds of thieves,”says Keith Aubele, CPP, president and CEO of the Bentonville, Ark.-based Retail Loss Prevention Group. “First, there is the opportunistic non-pro. Second, there are professionals working in Organized Retail Crime Syndicates (ORCS) — vast organizations that buy stolen goods from professional thieves for pennies on the dollar and then repackage and resell the goods to mom-and-pop stores, back into the retail pipeline, internationally — through any of a number of markets for stolen goods.

“Employees are the front line of defense — as well as the most economical defense — against shrinkage losses.”