ABSTRACT
Retail crime has long been trivialized in the eyes of the general public. The stereotypical shoplifter is envisaged as a ‘naughty teenager’ enacting a dare, a poor pensioner lifting a few items or a poorly paid member of staff supplementing their income. The general view is that retail theft is a minor misdemeanour at the expense of organizations making large profits from their customers. This perception is enhanced by low levels of conviction – in 2000, for example, of 292 000 customer thieves apprehended in the UK, less than half were found guilty in court (British Retail Consortium, 2001).
