It turns out shoplifting isn’t spiraling out of control, but lawmakers are pushing for tougher penalties for low-level and nonviolent crimes anyway.
Over the last couple of years, it seemed that America was experiencing a shoplifting epidemic. Videos of people brazenly stealing merchandise from retailers often went viral; chains closed some of their stores and cited a rise in theft as the primary reason; and drugstores such as CVS and Walgreens started locking up more of their inventory, including everyday items like toothpaste, soaps, and snacks. Lawmakers from both major parties called for, and in some cases even implemented, more punitive law enforcement policies aimed at bucking the apparent trend.
But evidence of a spike in shoplifting, it turns out, was mostly anecdotal. In fact, there’s little data to suggest that there’s a nationwide problem in need of an immediate response from city councils or state legislatures. Instead, what America seems to be experiencing is less of a shoplifting wave and more of a moral panic.
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Now, those more forgiving criminal justice policies are at risk, in part because of a perceived trend that appears to have been overblown.
*>“a moral panic” is the rod conservatives use to beat their voters into submission with.
Not just conservatives.
FTA:
Edit: Apparently I don’t know shit about Eric Adams, who was not only a cop, but a supporter of the “stop and frisk” policy.
Isn’t the whole US political spectrum between some conservatives and some different conservatives who tolerate a few lefties hanging out with them too?
Pretty much between to the right of Reagan conservatives and outright fascists.
The Dem leadership hasn’t been center-left since Carter at the latest and the GOP hasn’t been a legitimate political party at all since 2015.
Fascists and extra fascists.
Yes but now it has shifted to the right yet again, so it is one fascist party and one rightwing party.
Are you assuming that just because he’s a Democrat he can’t be conservative? I hate to break it to you, but that’s not a good assumption.
Yeah, I really fucked up.
The sad part is that I didn’t even know anything about Eric Adams before I wrote that. I just extrapolated from my experience here in Atlanta and made an educated guess. The thing is, when big cities are dominated by Democrats it doesn’t mean everybody’s liberal (let alone leftist). Instead, especially in places with a lot of minorities, it’s that the Republican Party’s bigotry is a deal-breaker so even the conservatives are Democrats, too. So you end up with a mayoral race where everybody’s got a (D) next to their name, but the winner is somebody centrist or even center-right. (Consider how Atlanta’s black mayors have always allied themselves with the rich white business community and how the current one has been pushing hard for Cop City, for instance.)
I also considered how former NYC mayors included people like Giuliani and Bloomberg, and figured that theme likely continued as well.
I did double-check afterwards, and was disappointed to be even more correct than I expected to be.
“Not just conservatives” he says and mentions fascist cop (but I repeat myself) Eric Adams as an example 🤦
Fun* fact: most of the Dem party top is conservative to the point of being to the right of Reagan
*and by “Fun” I mean tragic and infuriating
Yeah, I deserved that. I didn’t do my research.
Not really a good example. As the article indicates, most of the 24 tracked cities saw an average drop in shoplifting. The main exceptions were New York and Los Angeles which saw increased shoplifting rates, especially compared to 2019. This means that Eric Adams appears to be addressing a real problem occurring in New york, vs maybe other cities which may be attempting to address non existent problems (or problems which the information we track doesn’t show).
Increased ARREST rates for shoplifting. Both the NYPD and the LAPD as well as the LA County Sheriff are infamous for overpolicing, especially of poor people and minorities. Add at least one “tough on crime mayor” and arrests for poverty-related crimes go up regardless of whether crime does.
“Appears to” being the operative words.
Conservative is as conservative does.