Thieves tend to snatch practically everything: from household appliances, books, products and even flower pots from the shop windowsills. Economists explain this phenomenon by crisis. And sociologists analyzing shoplifting statistics say that nothing has changed. Something like, thieves have always been stealing from stores. Currently this issue has got under the scrutiny of the public, so different non-profit organizations are trying to raise awareness in the society to make statistics on shoplifting go down.
Shoplifting statistics in the UK
Police data confirm that theft is on the rise in UK supermarkets and small outlets. At the same time, retailers warn that the number of reported thefts "pales in comparison to reality" citing more than 78,000 reported incidents.
People addicted to shoplifting - 57 percent of adults and 33 percent of minors - say they find it difficult to stop shoplifting even after they've been caught. Most amateur shoplifters do not commit other crimes. They will never steal an ashtray from your home and give you back the $ 10 bill you may have dropped. Their criminal activity is limited to shoplifting, and therefore any rehab program must be “offense-specific”.
Statistics of shoplifting in the USA
There does not exist any kind of profile of a typical shoplifter. Among shoplifters, you can find both men and women with the same frequency. About 25%of shoplifters are children, 75 % are adults. 55% of adult shoplifters say they first shoplifted as a teenager.
The increased frequency of petty theft and shoplifting is dangerous. It is all too common consequence of Proposition 47 adopted five years ago in California. Critics say it influenced the shoplifting statistics greatly. It gave the green light to shoplifters and drug addicts to commit crimes since the police are not going to arrest perpetrators if the stolen merchandise costs less than $ 950.
Statistics on shoplifting: more numbers
- In England and Wales, police recorded over 374,000 shoplifting cases in 2018/19. Since 2002/03, there has been a net increase of over 63,000 offenses, with 2004/05 being the year with the least number of shoplifting at just over 281,000.
- About 3 percent of thieves are "professionals" who steal solely for resale or profit as a business.
- USA Commerce Chamber reports that businesses suffer $50 billon losses from employee theft.
- Statistics for shoplifting shows that there are nearly 27 million shoplifters in America.
Shoplifting statistics Canada
The number of crimes reported by police in Canada measured by the Crime Severity Index (CSI) is increasing every year. CSI grew 2% from 73.6 in 2017 to 75.0 in 2018; CSI measures the number and severity of police-reported crimes in Canada. The changes in the CSI in 2020 were the result of an increase in police-reported rates of multiple offenses, most notably fraud (13%) and shoplifting of $ 5,000 or less (14%).
