Why you cannot fix the shoplifting crisis without addressing homelessness and addiction

The fact that in London 104 repeat offenders were responsible for more than 5,300 retail crimes over the past two years is not a surprise to our organisation.

We have been raising the alarm about repeat low-level offending for over a decade. The retail crime crisis is in part, the visible result of the UK’s inertia ‘supporting’ people with multiple disadvantage. When people experiencing crisis don’t fit neatly into a pathway or sector, we struggle to provide the intensive support they so urgently need. Years of neglectful policy-coasting has funded failure and resulted in an unavoidable consequence of rising reoffending.

We agree with Met Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist that “the system needs to change’” Revolving Doors suggest we start by tackling the root cause of these crimes.

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Prolific low-level offenders, like shoplifters, are far from a homogenous group. There are serious concerns about organised crime – yes, however the well-known truth is that a significant amount of repeat shop theft is linked to people in deep crisis, addiction, homelessness, poor mental health, trauma and poverty – the revolving door group.

People in this revolving door typically commit acquisitive crime, often to fund addictions and because of other unmet needs. As they are not the most dangerous offenders, they tend not to qualify for intense interventions and services are generally too segregated to work together to help them, so they simply slip through the net. 

Opportunistic thieving and organised attacks on supermarkets are a shock to witness and experience as a staff member but these two retail crime groups (organised or opportunistic) need different responses. The most important factor being that local services know who the individuals at the sharp end of crisis are and understand that they need holistic support.

Neighbourhoods, authorities and services hold crucial knowledge on individuals experiencing homelessness and addiction that can be focussed into urgent impact. ‘Bobbies on the beat’ know who need intensive support on their patch and are increasingly desperate and advocating for more impactful solutions to stop reoffending because repeated prosecution and sentencing is offering no respite, taking precious time away from more serious offences and community justice.

We worked with Newton on groundbreaking analysis showing that between 30,000 and 50,000 people fall into this “revolving door” group, and they account for at least 23% of all reoffending costs, amounting to around £5bn each year. One individual can cost public services up to £1.4m over their lifetime, largely through repeated contact with police, courts, prisons and A&E departments. They need housing, health services, and focussed care.

Localised services can distinguish who needs help and provide immediate prevention and diversion support to halt retail crime. The data tells us that repeated prosecution and incarceration do nothing to solve this, but it does kick the can of rehabilitation and increasingly make the problem worse.

As part of our research, we spoke to hundreds of offenders. Far from the media-boogieman of Clockwork Orange ultra-violence, prolific shoplifting is particularly common amongst women who are entrenched in a living situation spiralling out of their control, funding a habit or someone else’s habit, and finding ways to survive (such as funding a hostel or necessary items for their kids). Shoplifting can be a cry for help, with people wanting to get arrested and seen as the only immediate way to receive support. A lot of the time people arrested or apprehended don’t remember what they have done as they’re under the influence, so when interviewed they could not realistically tell us how many times they offended, or what they stole.

For those that shoplift, there is some escalation to violent crimes, but statistically most reoffending is just further shoplifting. Authorities have the data that tells them that prolific shoplifting is the clearest ‘repeat offence archetype’, meaning that those that shoplift to support an addiction or out of desperation are likely just to repeat the very same offence. Supporting a clear case for delivery of a targeted response.

Revolving Doors is advocating for whole-system approach to diversion which integrates addiction support, housing, and neighbourhood policing across the country, because the evidence demonstrates it works for those in crisis.

We recommend that each police force area, working with local partners, identifies around a set number of individuals from the revolving door cohort. We call this group the Priority Cohort. These will be people known to services as prolific, persistent and problematic offenders, but whose behaviour is also clearly linked to their unmet needs. Importantly, instead of responding to their offending in isolation, local services would work together to manage and support this group in a coordinated way.  A key factor in successful diversion programmes is access to housing and treatment programmes.

Authorities know that this approach is the key to fixing this – and would make a big dent in shoplifting, but it needs joined-up energy and combined investment from public health, housing, and justice, at both a local and national level.

The prison system demonstrably does not work for solving acquisition offences driven by addiction (our recall and reoffending rate is higher than ever) and more efficient courts can make an impact if they provide routes to mental health and addiction treatment, but without funding those support services their effectiveness is undermined. Police intervention doesn’t stop the shoplifting, with barring orders just encouraging vulnerable people to move on to a new area. 

Problem solving courts making way for more efficient and diversionary justice is a step forward, but the reality is you simply can’t just prosecute your way out of addiction and homelessness. And no amount of retail staff training or suggestions that security guards should carry truncheons can wrestle with the consequences of decades-long underinvestment in support services and societal infrastructure.

The revolving door is not inevitable. We are fortunate at Revolving Doors to see this everyday – through our members – people who have broken that cycle and are leading positive, healthy lives.  What we know from them is that too often systems fail them because they are disjointed and simply not set up to deal with people with complex issues. A whole-system approach to diversion should be a key response to retail crime.

We need to tackle social problems, before tackling those neglected by society to the ground.

Antonia May Cross is director of communications and campaigns at Revolving Doors.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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