11/03/2009 - Commons to look at shoplifting Bill
Plans to shake-up the sentencing of shoplifters will be looked at by MPs after the crime reportedly cost businesses £1 billion last year.
Conservative MP Anne McIntosh is presenting the Bill to the House of Commons while accusing government of "turning its back on the scourge of retail crime".
She said: "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."
Under the Bill, fines would be restricted to first-time offences. They would not be used in relation to persistent offences, where there was violence, or where the value of the goods stolen was high.
But the Vale of York MP also wants to see changes to the way the authorities deal with offenders who are unable to pay and those fuelled by a drink or drugs habit.
She said: "Such offenders need to receive the proper treatment with the promise of rehabilitation. The police database must be improved to ensure that all recent shop theft offences are entered on a national system for ease of reference across police forces."
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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