Juvenile Shoplifter Accountability Making the Most of Juvenile Apprehensions

How often do you stop juvenile shoplifters from
taking your merchandise and simply hope that
the experience of being caught, along with the
time and effort you put forth, is enough to
prevent a repeat offense?

To assist retailers in their efforts, the National
Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP)
offers the Juvenile Shoplifter Accountability and
Parent Support Program. This program helps
retailers maximize the impact of every
apprehension, reduce repeat offenses and
enhance customer and community relationships.
The premise behind the concept is simple.

Today if you ask a juvenile caught shoplifting
“Why did you do it?” the most frequent reply is
“I don’t know” or “It’s no big deal” suggesting a
lack of awareness about the crime as it relates to
themselves, the store, their family and the
community. In addition, many if not most
parents of apprehended juveniles find
themselves in a new and unfamiliar situation
when called to pick up their child who was just
caught shoplifting. While they want to try and
remove every chance their child will shoplift
again they are unsure where or how to begin.

The Juvenile Shoplifter Accountability and
Parent Support Program is an effective yet
surprisingly simple program for the LP toolbox.
Retailers use the program to convey a message
of support to parents (who are usually the store’s
customers) and provide them with access to the
education and guidance they often want and
need to help their child get back on track.
Through this program, retailers are reaching out
to families in the community they serve, saying
“We understand that kids sometimes make
mistakes so we have partnered joined with a
non-profit education organization to help you
help your family.”

According to Caroline Kochman, Executive
Director of NASP, “Making our court-approved
programs available for use by the retailer
provides the LP community with an opportunity
to turn a clearly negative customer contact into a
more positive experience for the family.” In fact,
96% of parents and 84% of LP professionals
surveyed say they believe it would be valuable for
retailers to provide support to parents when their
child has been caught shoplifting.

Moreover, this program complements and enhances
the retailer’s existing programs and policies.
“Retailers are beginning to find programs like this
can sometimes be more effective (than prosecution)
in preventing the next offense.” said Paul Jones,
Vice President of Loss Prevention for the Retail
Industry Leaders Association (RILA). “However,
regardless of whether or not a retailer prosecutes
juveniles, providing this information to support
parents is good customer and community service
and sound corporate citizenship.”

In fact, a program such as this is also more practical
for the wider community – requiring fewer
community resources – and is less costly all around.
Policies for handling juvenile shoplifters are as varied
as the communities themselves. The police may or
may not respond, the prosecutor may or may not be
willing to prosecute and the court may or may not
provide substantive sanctions. The only constant is
the retail community which is always the first touch
point in a juvenile shoplifter’s experience – so what
happens next and how effective it is in preventing
another shoplifting offense is up to the retailer.

Participating retailers distribute Parent Support
Pamphlets to the parent or guardian of apprehended
youth. The pamphlet provides parents with facts and
guidance to help them talk to their child about
shoplifting as well as information about how to get
their child help and education through the Youth
Educational Shoplifting Program (Y.E.S. Program),
an offense-specific home-study education program
which discusses all aspects of shoplifting. Youth
hear real-life stories from other teens about the perils
of shoplifting. They learn why kids do it, who really
gets hurt and have the opportunity to examine the
attitudes, thoughts and misconceptions that led them
to shoplift.

Participation in the Y.E.S. Program is a vital part
of what the offending youth can do to make
amends with the store, his/her family and the
community. Participation serves to prevent
future offenses including employee theft. In
fact, according to court-documented recidivism
studies, 97% of those who complete a NASP
prevention program do not repeat the offense.

Do More With Less:

In these days of shrinking budgets and reduced
staffing, this is an opportunity to actually do more
with less. The tuition fees for all NASP education
programs are offender-paid by design – it is part
of taking responsibility for one’s actions. The
only cost to the retailer is that of the pamphlets
themselves, which run as low as $.09 each. NASP
also has a similar program for adult offenders.

The Juvenile Shoplifter Accountability and
Parent Support Program is quickly proving to
be not only a low cost shoplifting prevention
tool, but an excellent customer service and
public relations tool as well – as evidenced by
the comments from parents, LP officers and
participating youth.

Editor’s Note: The National Association for Shoplifting
Prevention (NASP) is a national, non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-
exempt organization whose mission is to raise public
awareness about the harmful effects of shoplifting on youth,
families and communities, unite public opinion toward
constructive solutions, deliver needed programs and services
and engage community action in prevention efforts to
improve the lives of those affected and reduce the number
of people who become involved.

For more information about the Juvenile Shoplifter
Accountability and Parent Information & Support Program
e-mail bcstaib@shopliftingprevention.org or visit
www.shopliftingprevention.org

Comments about NASP’s
Juvenile Shoplifter Accountability and
Parent Support Program:

Parents
• “I am so thankful to the store. They
did the research for me. I would have
had to start looking for something to
help my child on my own.”

• “I’m a single dad raising my
daughter, I can’t tell you how helpful
it was to be provided with this
information”

• “I am an educator myself….it is so
nice to see corporate America doing
their part”

LP Officers
• “Parents in my area have been asking
for information about help for their
child for a long time. It feels great
that I can actually offer them
something now.”

• “When I present the program to the
parents, their attitudes change for the
better.”

• “My entire team is quite excited
about doing something positive with
these kids.”

Juveniles
• “Getting caught, and going through
this program put everything into
perspective for me.”

• “For the first time, I feel like I am on
a good path and have a chance at a
promising future.”

• “This was a powerful experience and
I am grateful for the opportunity to
participate.”