Situational Crime Prevention Of Retail Shoplifting

Retail theft has always been the ‘dull pain' since the birth of retailing.With the rigorous development of retail stores such as general merchandise stores,beauty products and electronic stores,the problem of shoplifting is increasingly outstanding.Incidents occurs frequently and the dark figure of crime is still huge,which not only brings huge economic losses to retailers,but also impacts social legal order,encourages criminals' fluke mind and even causes imitation.It is no doubt that relevant sociological and psychological factors contribute to shoplifting,however,this behavior is also driven by complex situational factors.Analyzing current situation and characteristics of shoplifting crime and prevention,as well as exploring its causes from the perspective of situation are of vital practical significance,which also lay the foundation for the exploration of effective prevention strategies and reduce enterprises' losses.Based on domestic practice and drawing lessons from foreign advanced experience,this paper selects the general merchandise stores(GMS)with the features of huge business area,various kinds of goods and complex situational factors.It utilizes deep interview,which is a qualitative research method.First of all,it describes current situation and characteristics of GMS shoplifting and clearly point out three categories of shoplifters: occasional,professional and kleptomaniac ones.The first two categories are main objects of prevention.Secondly,it sorts out present preventive measures taken by GMS in dealing with shoplifting by technical,manpowered and environmental forms.Later,on the basis of crime analysis triangle,this paper analyzes situational factors that induce shoplifting from the macro socioeconomic background and specific situation,and describes typical situational process of provisional and professional shoplifting.Finally,it analyzes the weaknesses of current preventive countermeasures and puts forward perfecting suggestions from the perspective of specific and macro situation,for example,the introduction of risk decision matrix to manage popular stolen goods.Besides,combined with the background of the ‘new retail',this paper points out the development direction of preventive measures in the future.The final conclusion is as follows: Shoplifting in retail industry is the result of the interaction of potential thieves.The deficiency in the environment and preventive measures of retail stores induce the potential criminals to carry out occasional shoplifting without specific objects,and professional shoplifting which targets several types of high-value,small and easyto-resell commodities.Besides,current punishments for shoplifting is too light to reduce this criminal behaviour.Corresponding improvements can be made to reduce the occurrence of shoplifting.