Shoplifting

In our lecture on bad behaviour we looked at shoplifting. We watched a clip from Family Guy (which just about everyone watches) where one of the characters stole because she couldn't afford it, and then this turned into a continuous occurrence leading her to steal loads of clothes. This episode was quite funny but at the same time it's kind of setting a bad example to viewers. She did however get caught out, meaning that justice was served. Shoplifting is shown on many programmes, but it's usually the teenagers that are doing the crime. This is a stereotypical view of the average teenager. I, personally, have never shoplifted but it has crossed my mind a couple of times because it looks so easy. But I could never seem to bring myself to do it - which I guess is a good thing!

What I find very annoying is that when you go shopping in a group of about 3 or 4, you always get funny looks from the staff or security, sometimes you even get the security keeping an eye on you because they think that you are going to shoplift! Grrr!! We're not all chavs who steal!!

I feel that shoplifting is still classed as theft, however I think that it's completely different to something like a a bank robbery or burglary. When you shoplift from somewhere like Asda, it doesn't seem that bad because it's a big company and they're not going to specifically miss that loaf of bread that you stole. But if you stole from a little shop that was maybe owned by a family, they would notice the stolen object more because they don't have massive batch productions. On the other hand, Burglary is a lot worse than shoplifting because you are purposely breaking into someone's private home and invading their space and then taking items that could mean a lot to them. Being Burgled myself, you don't feel save in your own home any more and it makes you feel conscious of everything. Therefore shoplifting seems like nothing compared to burglary.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2105330.stm

I totally agree with the justice served in this article. Teenagers shouldn't get away with these sorts of crime!