Is Theft Even a Crime Any Longer

Is Theft Even a Crime Any Longer?
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
October 2, 2023

If theft is no longer prosecuted is it still stealing? Theft and/or stealing, by definition, is the illegal taking of goods/items/merchandise/things that do not belong to the person taking them - whether by force or not. It is morally wrong, but it may no longer be legally wrong. Apparently, retail theft has become de facto legal.

In states like the People’s Republic of California, where theft of goods below $950 goes unprosecuted, it is the honest law abiding consumers who ultimately pay the freight. So why shop at all? At least why shop in stores? There’s an enormous black market, growing each and every day that rampant theft continues out of control and unchecked. 

And it’s profitable - just do the math. For a person working five days a week and 50 weeks a year, allowing for the standard two weeks of vacation time, a person stealing the maximum $950 worth per day without being prosecuted and then selling said merchandise at a 50 percent “discount,” could net $118,750 - tax free. Someone must have done those calculations. Apparently many someones have done those calculations as according to the National Security Research Survey,  in 2021 retail theft industry losses reached $94 billion, and in 2022 they rose to $112 billion.

The higher the percentage of shrinkage causes stores to close, whether anchor stores in malls such as Nordstrom, that recently closed in San Francisco, or the corner CVS or Walgreens. When stores close, unemployment rises, which taxes the system when people file for unemployment resources - money paid for by the taxpayers. 

When stores close, neighborhoods are impacted multi-fold. The residents in those neighborhoods suffer from a lack of resources - groceries, prescription medicines, and even gasoline. Typically those residents are older, retired, living on fixed incomes with a lower level of mobility. When stores close, neighborhoods are also impacted by a loss of tourism. A loss of tourism impacts hotels and restaurants deleteriously, which once again claims jobs. Big box stores/department stores can afford to close - they exist in multiple locations and those consumers too far from the stores physically, can shop online, which is safer these days. Target alone is shuttering nine stores in New York City, St. Louis, and San Francisco.

But mom and pop businesses cannot afford to close and they also are having a harder and harder time paying their ever-rising insurance bills. The more stores are robbed, the less likely they can keep their doors open. There have been videos where criminals literally tell shopkeepers and store owners “you have insurance,” as they fill giant lawn/trash bags full of merchandise and nonchalantly walk out the door. The increasing rash of smash and grabs are even more costly.

Employees are specifically told not to confront the criminals. In cases where some employees have attempted to do so, successfully or unsuccessfully, they have routinely been fired, much to the objections of the public. Yet while theft continues unchecked, stores put more and more of its merchandise under lock and key behind a plexiglass protector. This creates a 30 percent loss of sales, according to Kevin O’ Leary, chairman of O’ Leary Ventures.

“No, it’s not sustainable,” said O’ Leary when asked on the Fox News noon hour program “Outnumbered.” Grocery margins are typically three to five percent and shrinkage used to be 1.5-2 percent, and profits could still be earned, explained O’ Leary. Today, shrinkage is over five percent, sometimes up to seven percent. “It’s completely unprofitable,” said O’ Leary, also a co-host of the popular television program ‘Shark Tank.”

A place like “San Francisco is probably the case study for this whole situation - everybody’s pulling out - the grocery stores are pulling out, the hotels are pulling out, convention centers are shut down - there’s nobody there - it’s not safe to walk at night - the place has become a war zone. It’s not politics, it’s bad policy, and it’s not sustainable,” continued O’ Leary.

Actually, it is politics - bad policies are created and implemented by bad politicians and supported by corrupt district attorneys (appointed or elected) who refuse to prosecute the habitual reprobates who make a living stealing on a daily basis. Increased cost of security measures, whether human or material (locks, glass cases), increased cost of insurance premiums, and other theft prevention methods are simply passed along to the consumers - those honest, law abiding schmucks who continue voting for those same useless politicians who clearly do not have the best interest of their constituents at heart. And when these miscreants are not prosecuted they are not sent to jail, nor is there a police record of their crimes, thus no proof of recidivism. No cash bail, in places like Illinois, is also a disastrous policy.

This growing trend of not prosecuting theft only leads to an increase in other crimes as criminals push the envelope of the limits of what they can get away with. Law enforcement is not supported by the politicians therefore they are reluctant to pursue thieves. The men and women in blue either don’t want to end up with black and blues, they don’t want to be sued, nor do they want to lose their jobs because the powers that be don’t have the temerity to do what is right, support their officers and let the people know theft is still a crime punishable by law.

Election Day 2023 is one month away. Use your voices at the ballot boxes and elect responsible citizens who will protect the rights and property of the innocent while pursuing and prosecuting the guilty, making the quality of life so much better for everybody. A return to civility is imperative. Efficient and productive law and order is one step in the right direction. The people owe it to themselves.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.