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Shoplifting Trends in Time and Space in Two Major American Cities

Thu, Nov 14, 9:30 to 10:50am, Pacific A - 4th Level

Abstract

In the last few years, news and social media coverage of shoplifting, smash and grab incidents, and assaults on retail store workers have increased dramatically. Retail outlets have also made claims that shoplifting and other retail thefts have impacted profitability in an unprecedented way. This has resulted in changes to commercial practices such as securing valuable and easily stolen goods behind locked cases, and in some cases, going as far as to lead to the shuttering stores in certain areas. The current study follows a 2023 Council on Criminal Justice report on shoplifting trends, and examines yearly trends in retail theft in Chicago and Los Angeles from 2018 – 2023 to better understand characteristics of the places where shoplifting is most prevalent, how shoplifting trends coincide with other offenses, and how and where arrests for shoplifting offenses concentrate. The study also examines possible effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on retail theft behavior and how geospatial patterns of shoplifting have since changed in the two study sites. Implications for further research, policy, and law enforcement practices are discussed.

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