NCJ Number
81250
Date Published
1980
Length
17 pages
Annotation
The nature of petty crime -specifically shoplifting, small-scale business theft, and nonpayment of public transportation fares -- is analyzed and prevention measures recommended in the context of strengthened informal social control.
Abstract
While such crimes are 'petty' due to the relatively low financial value of individual thefts (under 100 West German marks), their prevalence justifies the designation 'mass crime.' For every known incident, 10 to 20 unreported petty crimes are estimated, bringing the yearly total for shoplifting to somewhere between 2 and 4 million, with the perpetrators constituting about 10 percent of the country's population. The social profile for petty thieves shows that all social levels are represented proportionally. A suggested typology of petty criminals differentiates among average citizens who are first or one-time offenders, juveniles expressing developmental immaturity through petty crime, kleptomaniacs with psychological abnormalities, socially maladjusted repeat offenders, and chronic social dropouts with extensive criminal histories. Petty theft from businesses victimizes the whole society, but the direct victims are the entrepreneurs and managers who do not take preventive precautions because of their cost. In an urban consumer society which emphasizes product desirability and furthers personal anonymity, shoplifters can rationalize their actions, rejecting the notion of having done harm. Lax enforcement policies reinforce the sense of irresponsibility. Proposed remedies are changes in the general system of informal social controls. They include removal of legal protections for property of businesses; strengthened voluntary self-help prevention by entrepreneurs; well-defined civil sanctions with visible enforcement; and educational programs that clarify the social costs of petty crime and emphasize the basic concepts of right and wrong. Footnotes are provided.