Sticky fingers or loose screws? Shoplifting's many costs

A researcher has identified seven categories of shoplifter. The last of these, "the kleptomaniac", has generated plenty of controversy. But what's needed is more study, so that society can reduce the incidence of this expensive and career-destroying practice.

Last month two Saudi sisters, their two cousins and a neighbour allegedly stole goods worth over Dh133,000 from a Dubai shop. Media reports described what they stole - clothes, bags and perfumes - but were silent on why they did it.

We may never know why these girls in particular stole, but psychologists, criminologists and those simply concerned with aberrant consumer behaviour have advanced a number of ideas about why people in general steal from retailers.

In the 1960s, author Mary Owen Cameron undertook the first definitive study of department store shoplifting, proposing the simplistic, but useful "Booster and Snitch" classification. Boosters, about 10 per cent of all shoplifters, were said to steal for financial gain, generally operating within criminal subcultures, and selling on the items they stole. Snitches (the other 90 per cent), by contrast were viewed as pilferers, tending not to resell stolen items and possessing none of the Booster's criminality.

A slightly more fine-grained analysis of consumer misbehaviour is presented by Terrence Shulman. Mr Shulman is himself a reformed shoplifter who went on to practice law, and later became an addictions therapist, finally founding of the Shulman Center for Compulsive Theft and Spending in 1992.

Mr Shulman proposes seven distinct categories of shoplifter. First, the addictive compulsive shoplifter is a person who shoplifts in response to emotional distress, and this overlaps with other compulsive behaviours such as overeating. Number two on Mr Shulman's list is the professional, those who steal for financial gain. At number three we have the impoverished person, those motivated by economic need. Four, the thrill seeker, the adolescent, for example, who steals for a dare. Five, the addict. Six is the cognitively impaired.

And number seven, perhaps the most controversial of all, is the kleptomaniac.

The concept of kleptomania was first introduced in 1816 by a Swiss physician, Andre Matthey, who described "a unique madness characterised by the tendency to steal without motive and necessity". The term kleptomania can be loosely translated as "stealing insanity".

But kleptomania's status as a legitimate psychiatric illness has been hotly contested over the years, not only within psychiatry, but also within the criminal justice system and of course by the retail industry.

The early case studies of kleptomania concur in their descriptions of this affliction. They generally describe it as an irresistible impulse to steal items of no obvious economic benefit. In fact, the stolen items were often reported as being discarded after the theft. These early cases also suggest the problem is far more common in women, especially those of the highest socioeconomic status. Some of the earliest case studies centre on female members of Europe's aristocracy.

Given this emphasis on social status, one might ask: is it possible to be a poverty-stricken kleptomaniac? Or would the inability to afford the things you stole automatically rule-out kleptomania as a diagnosis, and as a legal defence?

Contemporary descriptions of kleptomania are generally silent about this issue of social status. The latest psychiatric illness manual includes kleptomania within the category of impulse-control disorders, describing it as a recurrent failure to resist impulses to steal items that are of no use, or monetary value to the individual.

The real divergence of opinion on kleptomania however, focuses on the proposed causes. Over the centuries a diverse range of explanations for kleptomania have been put forward: lesions of the will, unfulfilled sexuality, inferiority complexes, even department store atmospherics have been cited as an explanation. More recent investigations have looked at the links between kleptomania and mood disorders, addictive disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder.

The American Psychiatric Association conservatively estimates that about 5 per cent of all shoplifters are kleptomaniacs. If we can offer people some form of help for this impulsive behaviour we could save hundreds of millions of dollars in lost retail earnings annually.

More importantly, we could prevent individuals experiencing the shameful and punitive consequences commonly associated with being convicted of theft.

Justin Thomas is an assistant professor of psychology at Zayed University