Shoplifting is a type of larceny that refers to the theft of merchandise from a store or business (CBA, 2016). This crime costs, on average, $33.6 billion per year to US retailers, including both from customers stealing and employee theft (Schmalleger, 2015). Shoplifting is done primarily by juveniles (Schmalleger, 2015). In adults, shoplifting is typical among all social classes even though the most serious is found within the lowest class, however among juveniles the classes almost equally expressed (Schmalleger, 2015). Some data sources have concluded that females represent the majority of offenders. Overall, shoplifting is done by lower class women or juveniles looking to keep themselves entertained.
There are many theories …show more content…
If someone is labeled as poor, this is more often than not a negative association which could cause the offender to steal nice things (clothes, jewelry) to appear wealthy. There is a built in class-bias in the definition of what constitutes “serious” delinquency (Chambliss, 1973). If a young white woman got caught shoplifting she would be looked at very differently than if a young black man was caught. The media would label these two differently and explain there were different reasons for them both to commit a …show more content…
The Roughnecks were a group of boys the same age who did not get as good of grades at school as the Saints, and who were known as the “troublemakers”. The boys committed roughly the same amount of illegal acts but the Roughnecks were punished much more severely due to the label they received. Fast forwarding to the future, the boys who were associated with the Saints were all making decent money and had good jobs, while the Roughnecks were mostly in trouble or in