Shoplifting Teens: A Rite Of Passage?

Shoplifting teens are a dime a dozen. But not if you’re a storeowner. Over $13 billion dollars worth of retail goods are stolen annually. That’s someone at the top taking a heavy hit.

Still, the phenomenon of shoplifting among teens is so common you have to wonder: do teens understand the consequences of their actions when they slip a much-coveted tube of lip-gloss or smartphone off a shelf and into their pockets?

The answer has to be no.

And here’s why: most kids that shoplift, once caught, don’t do it again. The embarrassment and shame caused by being caught, is enough to stop their stealing for good. But until that time? They didn’t think they were doing something so terribly wrong.

Most likely, as your daughter sneaks that pack of gum into her purse, she’s thinking, “What’s a pack of gum worth anyway? Like big flip.”

It’s only on being caught that the shame and realization sets in. It’s only then that a child realizes that stealing something small is still stealing.

And of course, it’s all relative. An expensive smartphone that ends up in a teen’s backpack may be reasoned away as a non-crime. A boy from a middle class home might think, “Apple has made a killing, so who really loses out if one itty bitty iPhone goes missing?”

The philosophy there is striking. This teenager is already anti-capitalist and thinks he deserves a phone because the people who made the phone are rich and he is not. He justifies his behavior, and lets himself off the hook for taking what he wants.

On the other hand, it’s telling that most shoplifters are otherwise model citizens with strong moral values. Drop a $20 bill on the floor without noticing? He’ll swoop down to give it back to you. Yet he has no compunction about shoplifting that bracelet for his girl.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that more than twenty-five percent of shoplifters are teens. Nor should it come as a shock that most shoplifters started shoplifting in their teens. The question is: how should parents deal with this shoplifting situation–preempt the shoplifting before a child gets caught and penalized for shoplifting by the authorities?

First off, parents need to educate children about theft, the harm it causes, and how it hurts someone somewhere down the line. How there is a very real person at the end of the line, taking the heat for someone else’s offense. Walk your child through it–make him see what happens to the stores and manufacturers as a result of shoplifting.

Shoplifting Statistics

Shoplifting statistics are good. For instance, there are 27 million shoplifters in America which makes 1 in 11 people, shoplifters. In 2013, Apple products stores reported 8,465 devices stolen. That’s not just one little smartphone going missing and Apple will never know the difference. That’s a huge loss by any standard.

Ask your child to justify THAT.

Over 10 million people have been caught shoplifting over the past five years. That means the odds are good that your child is going to get caught if he keeps it up. Let him hear those numbers, those concepts.

Shoplifting creates a walloping burden on the courts, leads to a rise in security expenses for businesses, increases the costs of consumer goods, and affects communities by robbing them of revenue they would otherwise receive by way of sales taxes. All of this hurts very real people: children and their families.

Let’s say you’re driving along the road and you hit a pothole–here’s a good time to explain to your child that sales taxes help pay to fix roads. If the 1 in 11 people who shoplifted had not done so, you might explain, there might not BE that pothole in the road. It’s a good life lesson.

Shoplifting as Rite of Passage

It’s true that many teens steal. That makes it tempting to see shoplifting as a rite of passage. There are two problems with this idea:

1. Having the attitude that “everyone does it” may lead to the idea that shoplifting is an acceptable activity
2. Shoplifting can be an addictive behavior so you never want to look the other way if your kid engages in shoplifting “only once”

Shoplifting: What are the Signs?

• Your child owns items you know you didn’t pay for and he can’t afford
• She’s giving expensive gifts to her friends
• You ask how he can afford that new toy and he mumbles something vague

Shoplifting Prevention

Experts in child development agree that children have a sense of right and wrong by the age of 6. But of course, this can vary according to an individual child’s maturity and the environment in which he is raised. As a parent, you want to tailor your response to your child’s developmental stage.

• Age 4: At the age of four, for instance, the word “steal” won’t have much meaning for your child. It’s better to say, “Don’t take things that aren’t yours,” when your child snatches a candy bar off a shelf, or takes another child’s dolly.
• Age 6 or 7: At the age of 6, it is appropriate to have a child return a stolen item to the store manager and apologize.
• Age 10 and above: The child should do something to pay back his victim. He might, for instance, return shopping carts to their rightful place, or sweep the floor of the store for a given period of time. It is very important that the child not be paid for these activities, but that the activities are seen as payment for what was stolen.

With teenage shoplifters, a parent would do well to examine the child’s motivation. Is shoplifting a form of thrill-seeking? Peer pressure? Does the child feel she deserves more than she has? Does she not comprehend the seriousness of her actions? Is she in denial?

Most teens fail to register the idea that shoplifting is a crime. They see it as something petty: no big deal. That’s one of the reasons it comes as a shock when they are caught by security. Kids aren’t thinking about the theft–they are thinking about outsmarting technology and big business. It comes as a surprise when they are caught in the act and treated as common criminals. They had no idea they could be prosecuted and penalized for swiping a pack of bubble gum.

Police are called in about half the time and then it’s their call to decide what happens next. The way the case is handled also depends on whether it’s a first, second, or third offense, and where you live. In some places, shoplifting is a misdemeanor and in others it’s a felony.

Shoplifting Consequences

Some teens may need to serve time in a juvenile facility while others will get probation. There may be hefty civil fines that can run from $100-$500, even after the stolen items are returned. Some children may need to attend programs meant to rehabilitate them and these programs are very effective. Most children who complete these programs never shoplift again.

And of course, the main thing is the humiliation. Most kids are simply mortified at being caught. They’re embarrassed. They feel bad about letting down their parents. They feel as though they’ve shamed their families.

Most of them?

They never EVER want to feel that way again. And that’s why, once caught, you can pretty much stop worrying they’ll do it again.

Not that you want to get to that point in the first place.

Hence this article–here’s hoping it saves you a world of pain.