11 Mar 2009

Bill proposed to increase penalties for shoplifting

A Bill to crack down on shoplifters who reportedly cost businesses ?1bn last year is to be presented to the House of Commons by Anne McIntosh, MP for the Vale of York.

Tory Anne McIntosh, said: "The Government is turning its back on the scourge of retail crime. Shoplifting is increasing, but it is being dealt with in a derisory way.

The use of fines is proving ineffective in deterring crime against business, especially shoplifting. The failure of fines as a deterrent is evident from the fact that the average number of recorded offences annually has remained as high as 295,000, unchanged since 1998-99."

Her Bill would ensure that fines were restricted to first-time offences. Fines would not be used in relation to persistent offences, where there was violence, or where the value of the goods stolen was high.

Read the rest of this item from the Driffield Times

 
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