by Mike James

A recent news item caught my eye, and I want to bring it to your attention. It relates to a shoplifter who was beaten by two 7-11 clerks in Stockton, California, on July 29, 2023. The shoplifter has now been arrested and charged with other crimes. Apparently, he has done this before.

If you watch the video of this incident, you see the shoplifter going behind the counter of the store and dumping cigarettes into a lined trash container. It appears he is trying to fill up the trash container with cigarettes and then make his way out the door. Another customer is getting video of things as they happen.

One of the store clerks confronts the man and eventually wrestles him to the ground. A second store clerk comes into the scene and begins to strike the thief with a long stick. Eventually, the beating stops due to the man filming it telling the man with the stick to stop. The thief is led out the door by the man who filmed the incident.

Soon after this incident, the Modesto Bee published an editorial on the incident. The editorial agreed shop owners and citizens are frustrated by the brazen shoplifting and theft taking place not only in California but around the country. But they also say in the piece that the shop owners may have gone too far in a theft that may not have risen to a felony charge. In California, you must steal over $950 worth of merchandise for it to be considered a felony. With cigarettes at $12 a pack in California, it looked like this guy was going to take more than $950 worth.

The article in the Bee concluded the following: "Police in Stockton are busy with weighty matters, as they are in Sacramento, Modesto, and elsewhere. Petty theft often doesn't get the cops' attention, and if a thief is arrested, the punishment handed out in court typically is light. But thrashing the guy with a big rod, viciously and repeatedly, is not a lawful response… Street justice may be popular in movies or among frustrated citizens, but it has no place in a society governed by the rule of law."

There is the problem folks. We are governed by the rule of LAW, not God's law, but whatever our governing officials determine to be the law. Only Jesus Christ can fix this world.

In the Bible, a thief would need to make restitution for the things he or she had taken. Sometimes paying back what was taken up to two, four, or five times over (Exodus 22:1-4; Leviticus 6:1-5). If you could not pay it back, you had to work to pay it back. Even if someone is hungry and steals, they still need to make restitution (Proverbs 6:30-31).

These laws make a lot more sense than what we are doing here in California. Not only are there minimal penalties for stealing, but you don't have to pay back the person you stole from—unless of course, they catch you with what you have. There is no compounded interest due to the person you stole from.

Why is this a problem? One reason is it leads to higher rates of crime. Property crime rates in California, based on 2021 statistics, are up in most of California. If you are watching people on video going into stores and taking whatever they want and not being stopped, it may influence a certain segment (sinful folks) of our population to do the same. It also should be mentioned that property and violent crime in California were much higher in the 1970s through the 1990s than where we are now. Another reason this is a problem is due to what is known as the "broken windows" theory.

The broken glass principle, also known as the Broken Windows Theory, states that visible signs of disorder, like broken glass, can foster further crime and anti-social behavior by signaling a lack of regulation and community care in an area.

New York City used this philosophy to help bring down crime statistics a number of years ago. Loitering, not paying subway tolls, public urination, graffiti, jaywalking, vandalism, and other lesser crimes were responded to by police. The balances have tipped in many big cities today to not going after people who are non-violent offenders.

There seems to be a backlash against these soft-on-crime approaches. Even in cities like San Francisco, there is movement to address this problem. These things have a way of swinging back and forth like a pendulum. The problem is as the pendulum swings back again, there may be fewer people wanting to address the issues next time. Time will tell.

Sources:

"Crime Trends in California," Public Policy Institute of California, by Magnus Lofstrom and Brandon Martin, https://www.ppic.org/publication/crime-trends-in-california/#:~:text=Auto%20theft%20continued%20its%202020,and%2021%25%20were%20auto%20thefts.

Shoplifting Laws – California Penal Code 459.5, Eisner Gorin LLC, https://www.egattorneys.com/shoplifting-penal-code-459-5#:~:text=If%20someone%20is%20accused%20of,three%20years%20in%20state%20prison.

"Stockton 7-11 Clerks Went too Far in Viciously Beating Brazen Shoplifter," The Modesto Bee, August 5, 2023

"Stockton 7-11 Suspect Arrested," Fox News 40, by Matthew Nobert, August 9, 2009, https://fox40.com/news/local-news/stockton/stockton-7-eleven-shoplifting-suspect-arrested/#:~:text=(FOX40.COM)%20%E2%80%94%20The,to%20the%20Stockton%20Police%20Department.

"Broken Windows Theory of Criminology," by Charlotte Ruhl, August 1, 2023, SimplyPsychology, https://www.simplypsychology.org/broken-windows-theory.html#:~:text=The%20broken%20glass%20principle%2C%20also,community%20care%20in%20an%20area.