Legal Issues

Shoplifting is wrong not just because its an act of greed but also because its negative consequences affect many peoples lives. When youre stealing a chocolate bar, a toy, an apple, or any other item off a store shelf, youre not just robbing the store owner you are also robbing thousands of people of resources and their right to a just society. Shoplifting is therefore not only an act of abuse toward a single store owner, but also toward many of your fellowmen.

Many people are attracted to shoplift because of different reasons. Some shoplift because they really need to steal items to sell while others shoplift because they want the feeling of escaping with a stolen item and not paying for it with a single dime. Childhood trauma and other experiences in life may also contribute to the urge to steal from a store. Some children also get the wrong kind of respect from their peers by showing them items that he didnt pay for (Csoti, 2010, p. 177).

However, there is no reason that justifies shoplifting of any kind. When we grow up, our parents, teachers and other educators teach us to be generous, sharing, and understanding. They dont want us to grow up being greedy and covetous of things that other people own. When were young, we tend to think that this is all meant to make us into good, contented people. What we dont realize is that our parents, through their lessons, also want us to grow up respecting the community, and in the process, helping that community grow.

Doing the opposite destroys the community, victimizing more people than we realize, and also endangering ourselves in the process. According to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention or NASP, a nonprofit group that makes people aware of the negative effects of shoplifting, about 35,000 worth of goods are shoplifted in the United States every day.

The cost of shoplifting passes on to law-abiding citizens. Some estimates indicate that shoplifting can raise the cost of goods by 10 to 15. While shoplifters may think that theyre only stealing small, cheap items that wont be a loss to the store owner, the impact of all shoplifters combined is staggering. Sometimes, store owners are left with no choice but to terminate a number of their workers employment to cut back on their losses due to shoplifting (Briggs, 2009, p. 117).

An apple here and a chocolate bar there can mean another single mother who will lose her precious job because of a shoplifters whim. Thats one child whose future is once again threatened because of a sector of the population who doesnt want to obey the law. These innocent people are not stealing from us in any way, so why should we steal normal lives and stable jobs from them

We cannot blame store owners for terminating peoples employment because some people stole from their stores. Store owners have to gain a certain amount of profit to invest in their growth, so they could employ more people and sell more goods that the community needs. Without their profits, these stores would close down, putting the local economy in more danger (Csoti, 20102, p.76-177).

If all of these are not the store owners fault, then shoplifters are the only ones to blame for the lost jobs of many people around the country. As individuals, who want to grow up responsibly, we have to have the initiative to say no when we encounter anybodys offer or temptation to shoplift. If our friends keep on pushing us to do it, we should notify our parents and their parents, so they could correct the destructive behavior. In this case, saying no is not just an act of establishing my moral superiority above others, but also an act of helping those in need to keep their jobs for their themselves and for their children.

All in all, people should look at the bigger to picture to know what the real consequences of shoplifting are. For those who are compulsive shoplifters, they shouldnt hesitate to ask a psychologist or a psychiatrist for help.