Is shoplifting considered a psychological problem if not done because of need?

[CTyankee]

The reason I ask is because we have a local TV personality here in New Haven who was arrested for shoplifting at Sears...she was caught with cologne, a shirt and cheap earrings ($1.99!)in her handbag after she exited the store.

This is a woman who is a fashionista, she has a good job and her husband does, too. And she's young and "on her way" withher own show called "CT Style."

I can see "forgetting" to pay. But evidently she took the items into a dressing room, removed the price tags and left them there before emerging from the room with the items in her handbag.

People are scratching their heads over this...if you are going to shoplift in Sears, would a fashionable person take cheap stuff?

I'm hoping she'll hang on to her job (she's now on "personal leave"). She's very popular with younger viewers, very outgoing and cheery. She also does a LOT of charity fundraisers.

I'm just hoping she gets some psychological help. She has a high powered criminal lawyer but it's gotta be really awful for her...

[ET Awful]

1. I haven't seen nearly as much of Winona Ryder since she got busted for it.

I mean she still shows up in movies occasionally, but nowhere near what she used to.

[BlueDemKev]

8. Yeah, but she was a CHRONIC shoplifter

Winona kept doing it over and over again--she had a SERIOUS problem.

[BlueDemKev]

2. I think so.

Yeah, I think it's psychological....an old "let me see if I be smarter than they are" thing. It's common to hear about an elementary school-aged kid getting caught snatching a piece of candy or gum from a store. I remember a friend of mine in college got busted for stealing a can of hair spray from the local convenience store (how dumb was that?). What's sad is that some people continue such child-like behavior after they're adults and then they REALLY get in trouble!

[CTyankee]

15. I was wondering when reading the front page news story in my local paper if

she had done this before and never got caught...my guess is that she had, that it wouldn't have started alluva sudden at age 33...

[BlueDemKev]

28. It's possible

We can't assume that because somebody got caught doing this as an adult that it's been going on for years and years. Sure, it's very possible, but people do get crazy urges throughout their life. (Remember that 48-year-old cancer doctor who got busted on Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" show?) Maturity is being able to resist such urges. I feel that a when someone is caught shoplifting for the first time, they should be ordered into counseling as well as community service before the charge is dismissed.

[CTyankee]

32. That's a very humane view and I agree wholeheartedly about penalties.

We never can tell about these things, as you point out. My guess is that there were previous minor thefts but that she was never caught. Her difficult childhood has to be a factor here. She has talked about it bravely in an interview a little while back when the local paper was doing a profile on her; it must have hurt her at an early age. How very sad. My neighbors know her and have worked with her at Channel 8. They like her and feel awful, too...

[madrchsod]

3. yes it is......

and for some it`s a job or just for kicks.

[Warpy]

4. it's thrill seeking

and yes, she's going to need some psychological help.

[Roon]

5. I know someone who picked up a little nasty habit of stealing sunglasses

her girlfriend would waltz into the store and try on sunglasses then leave with a pair on top of her head.

My friend started doing it until she got caught at wal-mart one day. They called the cops and the female officer started yelling at my friend...."SUNGLASSES?!?!" "SUNGLASSES??!?!"

It was like she would have been better off if she was caught stealing something she needs....like food.

The only two times I ever witnessed anyone shoplifting, they were stealing food.

The grocery stores around here don't even call the cops anymore, they fill out a report, take your picture, ban you from the store and send you on your way. For the first timers, anyway.

[Codeine]

6. A thrill thing for some folks.

Putting themselves in a little bit of danger and trying to outwit others.

Personally as a retail employee I can say without hesitation that I hate shit like that.

[CTyankee]

12. She has a very "flashy" personality, hair and dress a little "over the top."

I think I read somewhere that she grew up very poor. I wonder if that had something to do with this...I hope the station, our ABC affiliate, gives her another chance if she takes responsibility, pleads guilty and commits to a psychological rehab program. There is evidently an outpouring of sympathy for her from the public who enjoy her show (she also does the traffic report and adds "color" to the local news show from 5 to 7 a.m.)

[REP]

7. Kleptomania

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. I recall one of Clinton's appointees being caught shoplifting.. Can't recall his name

He was shoplifting and returning the items for the cash. Yeah, I think it's a psych problem when upper income steal.

[DURHAM D]

13. It was Bush aide - Claude Allen. Nice try though. nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. Oops. Thanks for the correction.

[EFerrari]

10. It sure could be.

My OCD aunt went through this phase where she compulsively took small items from her vacation condo. She didn't need any of them. I was so afraid she'd be busted and in a foreign country. But while it lasted, it didn't seem to be within her control at all. Yikes. :(

[JuniperLea]

11. Thrills... maybe a control issue too...

I read up on this during the Wynona Rider episode. Very sad to see... very strange how issues of the mind manifest.

[doc03]

14. There was a guy I used to work with that worked the

highest paying job in our plant, worked all the overtime he could and would steal everything he could get his hands on. The guy was also a Sergent in the National Guard and his wife was a Registered Nurse. The two of them got caught I don't know how many times for shoplifting. He got caught for embezzling money from work and they dropped the charges if he retired. As I said he was also in the National Guard, well he got caught stealing from the Armory, he did get booted out of the Guard and lost 30 years of pension he had accrued rather than go to Fort Leavenworth. So I guess you could call it a psychological problem.

[gateley]

16. A friend's sister who was heavy into drugs used to do it a lot - we just figured

because she was high. Her life was out of control and she felt an emptiness that she thought "things" might fix. As cliche as it sounds, she was subconsciously hoping to be caught. And she was.

[obxhead]

17. I've known a few shoplifters and they were driven purely by greed

nothing more. Could afford it, just didn't want to spend any party money on it.

[TexasObserver]

18. Yes, it is. Otherwise perfectly behaving adults do this sometimes.

The two occasions I've seen close up involved individuals you would never associate with any kind of misconduct. It's completely inexplicable except by a shrink. The person does so because it gives them a high, followed by incredible guilt and remorse. The excitement of misbehaving, in this small way, gives them a release from tension and pressure that builds up. It's a compulsive behavior I would consider an addiction, and requires treatment similar.

If it is a first time arrest, courts are pretty understanding. She'll get a chance to go to treatment and own up to the problem. I've seen a court give deferred disposition, with the possibility of no final conviction on the record. I don't do this kind of work, but have seen two cases pop up involving people I know, and therefore became aware of it more personally.

[CTyankee]

19. Thanks for that. I just hope she gets help and takes it. Relapse can always be a problem,

just like for drug addicts...hope the TV station is progressive enough to be understanding and helpful...otherwise, their viewers might get downright unhappy...

[Mimosa]

21. It's psychological neediness caused by childhood helplessness.

People who do this were scared and helpless as children, maybe abused. Taking stuff is symbolic of getting control and becoming 'empowered.'

[sir pball]

22. Yes. DSM-IV:

Diagnostic criteria for 312.32 Kleptomania

A. Recurrent failure to resist impulses to steal objects that are not needed for personal use or for their monetary value.

B. Increasing sense of tension immediately before committing the theft.

C. Pleasure, gratification, or relief at the time of committing the theft.

D. The stealing is not committed to express anger or vengeance and is not in response to a delusion or a hallucination.

E. The stealing is not better accounted for by Conduct Disorder, a Manic Episode, or Antisocial Personality Disorder.

[Mimosa]

23. Books don't explain it. See my post above. n/t

[H2O Man]

29. Correct.

In my area, we had a state police commander caught; it made the news for about a month. There is also an ex-mayor with the same problem; his family has a deal with local stores to quietly keep a "running tab" of what he steals. Sad cases.

[malaise]

24. Here's a true story

Kleptomania is a serious problem. I know someone who is a doctor and both her parents were surgeons - she had everything but she could not help herself.

[Odin2005]

25. I know a mildly learning-disabled lady with Bipolar who is a compulsive thief and liar.

It's very sad.

[DatManFromNawlins]

26. Could be that she's always done it

And saw no reason to stop, because she wasn't getting caught.

Oops.

I shoplifted 2 things in my life, both before I was 6... a dog whistle that had no tag or anything (I honestly thought it was something someone had just dropped), and one of those plastic limes. I thought that the lime was some kind of lemonade. Squirted it into my mouth, made a face, and never did anything like that ever again.

Learned my lesson. ;)

[CTyankee]

27. Well, I sailed out of Barnes & Noble with Al Franken's book after he had autographed it...

I was with a friend and we had stood in line and gotten the book (they were stacked on the table where he would sit). I was so thrilled that I had spoken to Al and he had nicely autographed it for my son in law that I completely forgot to stop at the cashier on the way out and pay for it. It was horribly embarrassing when I got home and realized what had happened. I called the B & N store, told them what happened, gave them my name and credit card number...the clerk I reached by phone laughed. I've always wondered why I wasn't stopped. This is the Yale book store and they must have a lot of security...My guess is that I was so openly carrying this book (and the fact that I am older and more sedate looking) that I was missed. I had also been there for a while, waiting for Al, first just looking around and then standing in line...probably didn't fit the M.O.

[BlueDemKev]

34. OOPS!

Good thing you weren't in Singapore ! :spank:

[CTyankee]

36. I was mortified! They'd probably whip me in Singapore...

[LoZoccolo]

37. I accidentally did something like that at the Apple Store.

I picked up a charger and was fully planning on paying for it. Somewhere along the line I was distracted; I think I started talking to one of the employees about something. I must have thought I was all set because I walked right out with it and even nodded at the security guy while I was headed out. About a half-block later I think it was the fact that it wasn't in a bag that made me realize I hadn't paid, so I went back and did so.

[Fla_Democrat]

30. Dunno, lemme ask

Gary Yordon. :smoke:

[Lance_Boyle]

31. Only if a woman does it.

Kind of like murdering children.

SHE must be "sick." HE must be punished.

[pipi_k]

33. Like some others said, it's a form of thrill-seeking

My son's MIL has a shoplifting problem. I didn't find out about it until recently.

Here's the thing, though...just about every Christmas since my son and his wife have been married, his MIL has given Mr Pip and me some really nice gifts. I wondered how she could afford them, but figured she had lots of money left from selling her home.

Well, she managed to spend nearly all her money, but the nice gifts kept coming.


It was only this past Christmas when it finally hit me....OMG!!!!! I wonder if she had been shoplifting all this nice stuff. It always came from some higher end stores. Like I said, nice stuff. Now I feel kind of sick knowing I could have been an unwitting recipient of stolen goods.

:(

[eridani]

35. I know a woman who took meds to deal with bulimia

She said she also found her urge to shoplift decreasing a lot. Maybe it is, at least in part, a neurochemical thing.

[Gormy Cuss]

38. It's considered a psychological problem if you have enough money for a good lawyer. n/t