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.
Citations Needed had an episode about this. Extraordinary bullshit media narrative around shoplifting
And barely a peep about corporate price gouging, wage slavery, etc etc
This is all cover for the wage theft addiction bosses have.
https://newrepublic.com/post/175343/wage-theft-versus-shoplifting-crime
PBS Newshour covered this last week, too, saying it’s mostly a bullshit excuse (in whisper-talk).
Just once, I want a PBS host to bellow with the volume of a Republican that just watched the newest Project Veritas fraud 😁
Closest they come is at the beginning when they’re thanking the billionaires for their financial support.
“This episode of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me is brought to you by Capital One and FTX: what WAS in your wallet?”
woah, I never thought I’d see another listener in the wild. cool beans.
That was the point. It was a narrative shift operation.
Channel 5 did a few videos recently in SF. Really highlights shoplifting and reselling schemes that are incredibly common in that area.
I wouldn’t say it’s nation wide, but there’s definitely an issue with shoplifting in these areas with incredibly lowered penalties for shoplifting.
There’s a bunch of other things covered in this video, but there’s a good view on the shoplifting.
https://youtu.be/URfCwT3UQy4