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Investigations: Consumer Retail Shoplifting

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Encyclopedia of Security and Emergency Management

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Definition

Consumer retail shoplifting, also referred to as retail theft and shop theft, can be defined as the stealing of consumer goods from a retail outlet. This act of larceny/theft, i.e., intentionally and unlawfully taking possession of the property of another, is usually classified as shoplifting when it is done by the shopper or people pretending to be shopping during the opening hours of the store. If the shopper leaves the outlet and forgets to pay for the goods, then this would not be considered as shoplifting as the element of intention is missing.

Introduction

The scholarly work on shoplifting is largely located within the disciplines of criminology and consumer behavior with many of the studies done on the characteristics of the shoplifter, causes of the behavior, shoplifting prevention strategies, and consequences (or lack thereof) of engaging in the act of shoplifting. This phenomenon continues to have a significant and negative impact on the retail business industry...

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References

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Further Reading

  • Business Still Booming for One Industry: Shoplifting, The Washington Times (Washington, DC); May 11, 2009; Harper, Jennifer.

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  • Shapiro, L. R., & Maras, M.-H. (Eds.). (2019). Encyclopedia of Security and Emergency Management. Springer Nature Switzerland AG. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_56-3.

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  • Shoplifting rises in U.S. as the economy drops, International Herald Tribune; December 24, 2008; Ian Urbina and Sean D. Hamill The New York Times Media Group.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica

    Trevor A. Smith

Authors
  1. Trevor A. Smith
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Correspondence to Trevor A. Smith .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Security, Fire & Emergency Mgmt, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, USA

    Lauren R. Shapiro

  2. Dept. of Security, Fire & Emergency Mgmt, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY, USA

    Marie-Helen Maras

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Smith, T.A. (2020). Investigations: Consumer Retail Shoplifting. In: Shapiro, L., Maras, MH. (eds) Encyclopedia of Security and Emergency Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_172-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_172-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69891-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69891-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Law and CriminologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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