…for a Shoplifter?
Most readers of this blog deal with impact of retail theft on a regular basis. Store owners suffer the most direct loss. Employees are keeping an eye out to help prevent theft. Law enforcement officers are dealing with the criminals who are stealing from us. The public pays the price through higher prices and higher taxes. And courts are busy judging accused thieves.
So you are bound to have an opinion on this news report.
In Southhaven, Mississippi a man was given three life terms after being convicted of shoplifting.
Three Strikes Laws
He was sentenced under the state’s three strikes law.
Actually the man’s been arrested 18 times and convicted ten times, in Tennessee. His history includes:
- 18 arrests
- 4 felony convictions
- 6 misdemeanor convictions, reduced from felonies
In addition to the mandatory Mississippi sentence for shoplifting, local police and courts pointed out other threats caused by the fleeing shoplifter. In particular, they pointed out the life threatening danger he put passerbys into when he fled the scene resulting in a police chase.
Not as unique as you might think
A 2004 article in an American Bar Association publication written by Erwin Chemerinsky, Professor of Public Interest Law and Legal Ethics at the University of Southern California, points out that there is nothing new about laws that punish repeat offenders harsher than first time criminals.
A quick Google search found a few more examples, including:
- In March 2009, an Oklahoma woman was sentenced to life for stealing purses worth $275 and $380.
- In April 2010, a Yakima County, Washington court sentenced a man who stole perfume.
- In 2003, the California Supreme Court issued two sentences of 25 years-to-life to a man who stole nine children’s videotapes, including “Snow White,” “Cinderella” and “Free Willie 2.”
In most — but not all — of the examples I found, while convicted of shoplifting, the thieves did have much more serious histories.
In fact, the Chemerinsky’s article points out, by 2004 there were 360 people, in California alone, serving life sentences “for shoplifting small amounts of merchandise.”
Do these laws work?
Supporters of these laws argue that they help deter crime. The ABA article disputes that. He points to research that shows that independent of other factors, aggressive enforcement of three strikes laws does not deter crime.
What it tells retailers
Whether or not you think these “three strikes laws” are helpful in reducing crime, the evidence is that it’s not the solution to the problem of retail theft. Shoplifiing continues to be a growing threat to retailer profits and a greater drain on public safety resources.
Southhaven’s police chief puts it this way
The message is very simple. If you’re gonna commit felonies, you’d better keep your stupid self in the state that lets you get away with ‘em.
The alternative is to stop theft before it happens.
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You can do something about shoplifting! American Theft Prevention Products has tools to help retailers combat shoplifting. Visit www.AmericanTheftPrevention.com or call 866-416-0999 or 847-972-6540.
Tags: laws, loss prevention, sentances, shoplifters, thieves
June 30, 2010 at 5:24 am |
Nice post! Wish more states would jump on the bandwagon like Mississippi. I know we have overcrowding however in Mississippi you shoplift for life.
September 25, 2010 at 11:11 am |
Yes! Most of those sentenced because of third strikes that involve “shoplifting” are not good citizens and have a long history of criminal offenses.
But! how can a great Republic who preaches liberty and justice for all defend using a shoplifting strike to put a human being away for life in prison for “shoplifting.”
Because “shoplifting” is an economic crime and big business has the money to lobby the legislatures, APPREHENDED shoplifting, which used to be an ordinance violation for an attempt to steal, became the completed crime of “stealing” to accommodate OUT of Court civil recovery demands for shoplifting from the merchants and to provide another source of revenue, other than traffic violations, for the cities– AND another source of revenue for local attorneys who appear in the lower courtsd. .
Shoplifting could be stopped and prevented but when there is more money for everybody in the arrest or ticket for “stealing” the outcome is certain. If this means some will spend life in prison for a failed attempt to steal that is treated as a completed larceny and a third strike, “it is what it is! Ugly but profitable!