Shoplifting is a crime born of poverty Essay Example for Free

steal is a umbrage innate(p)(p) of indigence EssayShoplifting c wholly ups someone involve stealing from the shop during business hour. Shoplifting is an old problem for merchants. There are lots of reasons to steal, range from very poverty and satisfy the desires or mental illness. Although in that location are lots of anti- shrinkage devices in place and the increase in police patrols and offers the retailers steerage on preventive measures, the rate of shrinking in the world is still increasing. fit to the Home military post crime statistics, there was a 10 percent increase in shoplifting in fall in Kingdom in the year of 2009. concord to the Global Retail Theft Barometer research (2009), total global shoplifting in 41 participating countries costs economic lost for around $114,823 billion. Therefore, shoplifting is a secure problem non just in the United Kingdom.The statistics from the Home Office and the research make up the Centre for Retail Research sho wed that the shoplifting is world a serious problem in contemporaneous hostel, and this essay is going to discuss, is shoplifting is a crime born of poverty. If non, then what is the reason for people to shoplift? For the issue of shoplifting is a crime born of poverty, there are several factors that whitethorn link to the increase of shoplifting and the argument of shoplifting is a crime born of poverty, such(prenominal) as proud unemployment rate, Maslows Hierarchy of needs possibleness, underclass and the relationship between capitalism and crime.Against the issue of shoplifting is a crime born of poverty, there are several factors against the argument, such as look pressure in adolescent, drug addict, psychological elements or other adolescent psychological factors. The rest of the essay is going to epitome all the factors either for or against. According to Maslows Hierarchy of needs theory, this is a theory in psychology and proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 pa per A Theory of Human Motivation.Figure1 Maslows Hierarchy of NeedsHis theories jibe many other theories of homosexual development psychology and focuses on describing the stages growth in homos. He presented his theory in a pyramid and defined the stages with Physiological, Safety, Love/belong, Esteem and Self-actualization needs to inform the pattern that human motivations pass through. The base floor of the hierarchyrepresented basic human need, which are breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis and excretion. These are obligatory for human to survive in order of magnitude to achieve the upper train of human wants. Moving on to the next part, which is safety needs and it include security of body, employment, resources, morality, the family, health and property. This part represents a civilization of human beings, which they are chasing for a better living standard.Then next part is Love or belonging needs, which are friendship, family and sexual intimacy. After that , Esteem needs included self-esteem confidence, achievement, respect of others and respect by others. The die part is self-actualization needs, which included morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice and acceptance of facts. This is the ethical and spiritual level that Maslow rememberd. Taking Maslows Hierarchy of Needs as an accurate portrayal of individual organic evolution, we could apply that to the evolution of human society, which included economically, socially and politically. Therefore the argument of this essay can be clearly explained. If a person lives without food, water and homeostasis, he may not be able to reach the upper levels of the pyramid, which included morality, safety and self-actualization.Therefore, he get out pass crime like shoplifting or theft to arouse what he needs to survive. Most of the humans lacks of physiological needs are in poverty. Thus shoplifting can be said as a crime born of poverty in Maslows Hierarchy of needs theory. Secondly, the relationship between capitalism and crime is a factor that makes shoplifting a crime born of poverty. Capitalism is an economic system that favours private ownership. In other words, capitalism is a system of economics under which ownership of and investment in the means of exchange, distribution and production. Therefore, near capitalism countries drive home the problem of inequality, which mean the gap between the rich and the poor. According to urban dictionary, capitalism is an unhinged mechanism for distributing power where the rich and powerful get richer and more powerful, the poor get poorer.According to BBC word (2009), United Kingdom is a capitalism country, the gap between the rich and poor is very serious in UK, and the richest fifth of the population had an income 16 times greater than the poorest fifth. According to the content Equality embellish (NEP) report (2008), United conjure ups and United Kingdom are in the top 10 of inequal ity countries, which mean the gap between rich and pooris very big. The rate of shoplifting in United State and United Kingdom are increasing, which means inequality will make poor people move crime. In capitalism countries, when the gap between rich and poor become wider, the rate of crime will increase. Because capitalism is an idea that rich peoples use funds to buy goods then sell to gain money but poor people dont postulate money to buy goods in order to sell to gain money, so they pull shoplifting and sell the things that they stole in order to survive. Thirdly, Murray (1990) explained that there are three main characteristics of underclass, which are illegitimacy, violent crime and economic inactivity.Shoplifting is an activity, which is economic inactive. Murray (1990) has as well as explained that the morally weak underclass that is unemployed is usually involved in crime and drug addiction. By analysis, the Murray research, the crime committed in shoplifting which is unemployed. According to The New York Times (2012), a single drive committed shoplifting and sells the goods in order to survive because the government activity had passed the 1996 welfare reform law. This case showed that there are people shoplifting because of poverty. Then, some people committed shoplifting because lack of clear point in life. These kinds of people often under unemployment, therefore, they live below poverty level. According to the research do by Mcshane, Lawless and Noonan (1991), 70 apprehended shoplifter aged between 18 and 88 compared to 70 undergraduate non-shoplifters, they found that shoplifters were most likely to live in poverty, to be socially isolated and not to aware psychological stressors than those who do not shoplift. This research showed that people who live long-term under the poverty level lacks the purpose in life.Therefore, the research done by Mcshane, Lawless and Noonan (1991) proven shoplifting is a crime born of poverty. Finally, acco rding to the UK Office For National Statistics (2012), the unemployment rate in United Kingdom was last reported at 8.3 per cent and it go steadily. The unemployment rate has explained that the reason people shoplift is because of economic. Although the government have unemployment benefit, there are lots of people who are unemployed but do not fall in the requirement to get the unemployment benefit. Therefore, shoplifting in United Kingdom still increases. The study of Ray and bullbrier (1988) included 200 court records and 382 self-reports and showed that shoplifters were more likely to have lower family income, be unemployedbelieve that economic need causes shoplifting. However, there are lots of people who shoplift to satisfy their desires and some of them competency pursue excitiement by shoplifting.Shoplifting is a psychological issue for a group of people. According to the articles National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (2006), the single largest psychological fa ctors in around one-third of shoplifters are experiencing depression. Geyer (2001) withal explained that most of the shoplifting offender is due to psychological factions. Therefore, most of the shoplifters committed shoplifting because of psychological issues more than because they are poor. Besides, according to Tonglet (2002), the decision to shoplift is influenced by social factors, pro-shoplifting attitudes, opportunities for shoplifting and perceptions of low risks in being caught. He described that shoplifting is consumer mis behaviour. BBC News Magazine (2012) also described that there is a new wave of middle-class shoplifter is targeting some high-end delicacies from stores and supermarket to have a lifestyle that they could no longer afford. The society believed that this development is caused by the economic recession.On the other hand, teens problem is also a very important factor of shoplifting. According to the National Crime Prevention Council (2006), there are 25% of people committed shoplifting between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. The following essay is going to analysis and explain the reason that people shoplifting apart from poverty. Adolescent shoplifting is a nationwide rising problem. According to Moschis, Dena and Anthony (1990) experiment, they have surveyed 1692 teenagers from age 10 to 17 investigating shoplifting behaviour, family occupational status, rule breaking behaviour and perceived reasons for adolescent shoplifting. The result showed that shoplifting rate between the age 10 and 15 rose steadily and declined between the age 15 and 17. Moschis, Dena and Anthony (1990) concluded that there are few reasons explained that why teens shoplifting, such as chasing for excitement, peer pressure and attracting attention.For the reason of chasing for excitement, most of the teens got lots of time when they were bored and didnt have anything better to do, they will pretend shoplifting to gain excitement. For the reason of peer p ressure, it is playing a very important role on adolescent shoplifting. When their peers get a pair of expensive name brands property or clothes, the others will try to keep up with their peers and wear the in vogue(p). Other than that, electronicsalso very popular, such as mp3 player, console, phone and other small expensive items. Most teens want to get the best and the latest leisure fashion and electronics to compete with their peers so they are faced with the lack of money to satisfy their desires, they may turn to shoplifting. Steven Gerrard said, Being a young lad its hard not to give into peer pressure. I stole to fit in. I grabbed a few pens paper from Woolworths made a winkle for the door but the security guy grabbed me.Steven Gerrard is an England soccer hero, he confessed that he stole pens and nabbed by cops when he was in his early teens. This case strongly influenced that shoplifting isnt a crime born of poverty. At last, the parent attention, many parents were ve ry busy in their work in contemporary society so they will lack of care of their children. The child will do something in order to attract their parents attention. The arcminute component that people committed shoplifting is drug users. According a study of Arrestees (2005), the study support that shoplifting was the most frequent crime amongst drug users. This group of people shoplifting showed that they need to shoplift in order to fund their drug habit. Drug users usually resell the things that they steal or onslaught a cash refund.The study also showed that alcohol is also a main component in shoplifting. According to BBC News (2012), most cases of shoplifting by what psychologists describe as non-professional shoplifter , and most of them shoplifting to feed their alcohol addiction. Both drug addict and alcoholic people committed shoplifting in order to feed their drug and alcohol addiction not because of they are poverty. Thirdly, Kleptomania is an impulse control disorder , study depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder or bipolar disorder. Although there are very few of shoplifters fall into this category, this fictitious character of shoplifters has a psychological compulsion to shoplifting to satisfy their desires. They will commit shoplifting whenever the urge hits. According to Tasman (2011), he explained that people with Kleptomania often report the shoplifting act and they feel of pleasure after committed shoplifting.This kind of people shoplifting is because of mental illness, most of them did not think themselves as a crime after committed shoplifting. But in contemporary society, the law enforcement agencies treated them as normal crime. As a conclusion, to discuss whether or not shoplifting is a crime born of poverty, as it has innumerous factors causingpeople to shoplift and lots of factor proved that shoplifting is born of poverty. Almost all of the reasons that support the argument are around economic and policy, such as the unemplo yment rate, the unemployment welfare, capitalism and the economic depression. In another word, if the government are to carry out well policy, the shoplifting rate will decrease.Therefore, the government plays a very important role in decreasing the rate of shoplifting. On the other hand, most of the shoplifters committed shoplifting not because of poverty, there are several factors that makes people shoplift, such as Kleptomania, psychological factors, peer pressure, teens problem and drug users. All of the academic researches and government reports showed that most shoplifting cases are influenced by the shoplifters psychological factors more than poverty, such as the Steven Gerrards case, the reason for him committing shoplift was not due to poverty.This is why it may seem fair to say, shoplifting is not a crime born of poverty, it is a crime born of psychological factors and government policy. After all, the study of crime has been the core study matter in criminology. There ar e no expressed answers as to why people commit certain crimes neither has the causation been found for criminal activities. Different schools of criminology proves that there are no definite answers in the understanding of crime.ReferencesAppelbaum, A. and Klemmer, H. (2012) Shoplifting. Menninger Perspective, 5 (3), p.16-19. Bbc.co.uk (2012) BBC News Why do well-off people shoplift?. online ready(prenominal) at http//www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16469928 Accessed 1 May 2012. Bbc.co.uk (2010) BBC Mark Eastons UK Is inequality iniquitous?. online Available at http//www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/2010/01/is_inequality_iniquitous.html Accessed 1 May 2012. City-journal.org (2008) The New York Timess Welfare Myopia by Heather Mac Donald City Journal. online Available at http//www.city-journal.org/2012/eon0416hm.html Accessed 1 May 2012. Cox, D. et al. (1990) When Consumer Behavior Goes Bad An Investigation of Adolescent Shoplifting.. Journal of Consumer Research, 17