Stores Adjust to “No Shoplifting Prosecutions” Policy of Progressive DA’s
As “progressive prosecutors” have taken over in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore and many other one-party cities, merchants have had to adjust to the reality that their shelves can be and have been cleaned out by shoplifters and nothing is going to be done about it. The facts that retail theft is still a crime defined by the legislative branch, and in the aggregate causes very substantial economic losses, just don’t register (or don’t count). There is also the fact that it’s driving businesses out of already “under-served” (and almost always minority) neighborhoods, but that too doesn’t count. When the businesses take flight, they leave behind now-unemployed workers and a typically disadvantaged customer base with a skimpy and shrinking selection of alternatives.
Then of course there’s the fact that the indulgence of rampant stealing is the calling card of — how shall I say this? — devolving standards of decency that mark the decline of a corrupted society. But I wouldn’t want to be so old-fashioned as to bemoan stealing simply because it’s dishonest and corrosive to the basics of civic life. Instead, being a capitalist, I want to highlight how stores have adjusted to the new reality.
A picture is, as they say, worth…………………………
San Francisco Walgreens Introduces New Frequent Looter Rewards Punch Card (Source: Babylon Bee)
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Hi Bill –
I know that shoplifting is immoral but I just worry that more arrests and stricter shoplifting laws may cause undue stress on the arrestees and the criminal justice system itself – more and more people involved in the criminal justice system for the relatively minor offense of shoplifting may cause the criminally involved individuals to become involved in a cycle of crime which can be difficult to break. I believe law enforcement should focus on more serious felonies rather than misdemeanors such as shoplifting. California’s Proposition 47 is being blamed for more shoplifting but a lower felony theft threshold may send more people to prison and cause more prison overcrowding – focusing law enforcement resources on serious felonies is more humane and will cause fewer people to be caught up in crime.
Brett Miler
Brett —
It’s true that getting arrested for stealing will cause stress on the person arrested. I suggest he avoid this by taking the items he wants to the cashier and paying for them like the rest of us do. See there, no stress!
And yes, each arrest adds to the job of the criminal justice system. But that’s why we have a criminal justice system to begin with.
Finally, if we take a pass on retail theft, what solutions do you suggest for the problems and the moral and economic corrosion I noted in the post?
Hi Bill – I just view with some skepticism the notion that more prison is a legitimate response to a crime wave. The more expansive use of prison as a penal sanction will leave more and more people out of the mainstream of society and you should be more supportive of criminals and not just scold them for not behaving like you think “normal people” should behave
Brett Miler
Brett, by “focus” do you mean to imply that by refusing to arrest shoplifters law enforcement will be more effective in catching felons? Do you have any empirical basis for that? Is there any evidence that such an increase in effectiveness has actually occurred in any of the jurisdictions that have effectively legalized theft?
Do you have any empirical basis for your assertion that not arresting thieves results in “fewer people being caught up in crime”? Basic deterrence theory would indicate that removing penal sanctions for theft results in more people committing theft, not fewer.