The Wit And Wisdom Of Martha Gill...

What to do about shoplifting? It’s a delicate subject.

Is it, Martha? Why?

Shoplifting is not quite like other crimes.

How does it differ, then?

Pilfering, purloining, filching, snaffling – it is by nature relatively trivial, the sort of thing children try their hands at without necessarily graduating to car heists and bank jobs.

I thank my stars I clearly didn't have your upbringing, then. Because theft is theft, whether we are talking about nicking baby powder from Boots or bullion from Brinks Mat. 

And it may be 'relatively trivial' in your mind, but not when done on an organised scale to the big supermarkets or the hard-pressed sole proprietor. It's not trivial when staff are threatened or assaulted. 

...most of all, shoplifting is a crime that seems to reflect social need: it rises when the economy dips.

Ah, of course. The fact that organised gangs are now behind it, or drug addicts stealing to sell for their next fix, is ignored; in Martha's feeble brain, it's always Jean Valjean stealing a loaf of bread... 

Not only does “cracking down” on shoplifters through the criminal justice system raise difficult moral problems, it doesn’t even work.

Since when has combating theft - or any crime - caused a 'difficult moral problem'..? Surely not cracking down causes that, as we can see in California, as David Thompson's readership is quick to point out?  

Technology has made breaking the law much harder. The use of deadlocks has decimated car theft...

And the use of keyless entry has increased it again. Technology is always a two-edged sword.  

Yet in many modern shops, we have the opposite phenomenon. Although some security measures have increased, with door alarms and beeping tags, in other ways theft has become easier. Once goods were kept behind counters, but since the birth of large supermarkets they have been laid out near the door, ready for the taking. Automated self check-out means the customer in effect monitors their own behaviour. Staff levels have dropped precipitously.

Yes, and women wearing short skirts increases rape, eh, Martha?