'Shoplifting is one of the most invisible, underreported and costly to society' warns Labour MP

"Of all property crimes, shoplifting is one of the most invisible, underreported and costly to society," warns Labour MP for Tottenham and London Mayoral candidate David Lammy in a report released by influential think-tank Policy Exchange.

In the report, entitled "Taking its toll: the regressive impact of property crime in Britain," Lammy suggests that shoplifting from smaller stores has been "virtually decriminalized" because the incidents are not seen as a priority by local police or the courts. "Many retailers believe that a combination of legislation, judicial attitudes and prosecutorial practice have led to a de facto decriminalisation of shoplifting."

A poll carried out among the 400 members of the National Federation of Retail Newsagents as part of the research found that over half of all surveyors had been the victim of two or more shoplifting incidents in the last three months, yet over a third (35 percent) said they doubted the police’s ability to successfully prosecute shoplifters.

Lammy also highlights how last year's Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act placed the threshold for a "serious" shoplifting offence at goods valued at 200 pounds or higher, but the average value of a shoplifting incident from a smaller or corner store remains at 40 pounds. "Defining the seriousness of a theft offence by its value is problematic."

He argues that stealing from larger department stores or high street chains should be regarded as less of a harsh crime than shoplifting from a independent store. "The impact of a 150 pound theft, for example, would be far greater on an independent corner shop than on Fortnum & Mason, yet this is not reflected under the current Act" he explains. "Many rightly argue that the seriousness of shoplifting should not be based on the value, but on the impact to the victim."

In the report, Lammy highlights other issues affecting shoplifting, such as "underreporting" due to the retailers lack of faith in the police and the courts failure to take on the issue of repeat offenders seriously, as the report found that half of those sentences for shoplifting in the year to June, 2014, has 15 or more former convictions or cautions on record.

Lammy introduces a series of suggestions in the report to address shoplifting, which include introducing higher penalties for repeat offenders, restoring ward-level neighbourhood policing teams and sharing data between police forces to pinpoint crime trends and hotspots.