Akins, S. (2003). Theft in Sweden 1831–1998.
Basically, if state and local governments take measures to alleviate economic inequality by providing job training, welfare benefits, as well as ground-level efforts to improve communities by providing access to after-school programs and such, rates of theft decline substantially. Sourcebook of criminal justice statistics.
The market value approach suggests that theft should be highest where goods are most plentiful and most valuable. The continuation of mixed findings has led some criminologists to question whether the unemployment rate is a useful indicator in conceptualizing the relationship between economic conditions and theft, or at least, to conclude that it must be understood as one of a number of measures of economic hardship (Cantor & Land, 1985). Kleck, G., & Chiricos, T. (2002).
This person may not have enough money to buy food or some other important supplies which is why they have no other choice as to steal it. Wellsmith, M., & Burrell, A. The relationships among theft, shoplifting, and drugs are elaborated below. London: Home Office. Theft is also directly impacted by the nature of the capitalist economy and the market for certain items, as well as other, more subjective economic indicators such as consumer confidence. Other research finds that older people are an increasingly attractive target population for various forms of theft, including residential burglary (Mawby & Jones, 2006) and petty theft (Harris & Benson, 1999). Whites, on the other hand, are more often victims of larceny-theft than are blacks. It is one of the most prevalent forms of criminal behavior in the United States, consistently accounting for around 80% of all crimes reported to the police in a given year.
Neither villain nor victim: Empowerment and agency among women substance abusers. These codes and laws have played an important role in shaping modern criminal law in the United States. In the United States and elsewhere, theft commonly refers to the illegal taking and possessing of another’s property, anything of value, with the intent to permanently deprive that person of the item or the value of the item taken. 230–242). Shoplifting When someone steals merchandise offered for sale in a retail store it is generically called shoplifting. As such, more recent research has incorporated elements of neighborhood control, derived from social disorganization theory (Miethe & Meier, 1994; Wilcox, Madensen, & Tillyer, 2007), in an attempt to offer a more holistic model of theft that accounts for social context and the role of the physical environment. This fundamental economic shift is consistent with both sociological and criminological anomie theories, which predict an inability or failure of certain segments of the population to effectively adapt to major structural or economic changes (Merton, 1938), or that they will react to such changes by engaging in crime. I myself was recently caught shoplifting and now I have to face the consequences for the bad mistake I made. The truly disadvantaged. (2001). His name has been changed for, many families to make ends meet. Contrary to logic, perhaps, the highest rates of property crime victimization are reported in the poorest of American households (BJS, 2005b). This fundamental consideration has led many criminologists to approach the study of theft in terms of routine activities theory, the most enduring explanatory framework that accounts for variables such as time, place, space, and situations. ), Crime and inequality (pp. (2008). The first article about shoplifting and employee thefts that I have selected revealed that employee theft is on the rise and shoplifting, even though it is up 11% is not the biggest hurdle for employers. Depending on what type of theft one is engaged in, legal punishment can be severe, ranging from restitution to court ordered counseling and imprisonment. Albany: State University of New York Press. This research is also consistent with more recent formulations of social disorganization theory (Hunter, 1985; Sampson, Raudenbush, & Earls, 1997). At the root of this problem there are many factors like inflation, over priced mark-up, and quantity of the product. That is, the inability or unwillingness of families and neighbors to come together for the betterment of their community tends to result in higher rates of all forms of crime. The relationship between economic hardship and crime: The case of Israel and the Palestinians. Theft in nursing homes: An overlooked form of elder abuse. The temptation of not paying for something, just hiding it away and saving your own money is a large factor for some people.
The selection of theft targets is also conditioned by two additional factors related to accessibility: (1) proximity to the homes of the offenders and (2) proximity to the central business and entertainment districts (Bernasco & Nieuwbeerta, 2005; Bromley & Cochran, 2002). Classifications usually depend on the value of the item taken. Examples include cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, sport utility vehicles, snowmobiles, and so forth. There is a large amount of literature devoted to conceptualizing the relationship between criminal opportunity and theft.