Shoplifting: Get the Facts

 • The majority of shoplifters steal as a response to social and personal pressures in their life, not out of financial need or greed. Only about 3 percent of shoplifters are “professionals” who steal solely for resale or profit as a business.

• Shoplifters say they are caught on average of about once every 48 times they steal. They are turned over to police about 50 percent of the time.

• Shoplifting affects more than the offender. It overburdens the police and court systems, adds to a store’s security expenses, costs consumers more for goods, costs communities lost dollars in sales taxes, and hurts children and families.

• Chronic shoplifters steal an average of 1.6 times per week.

• There is no profile of a typical shoplifter. Males and females shoplift about equally as often.

• Your kids know kids who shoplift – 86 percent of kids say they know others who do and 65 percent say they hang out with those kids.

Return to: Kids & Shoplifting

Excerpted with permission from “Is Your Child Stealing? A Guide for Parents,” by the Minnesota Youth Intervention Programs Association, a nationally recognized model for youth intervention.

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