The Murky Shoplifting Narrative

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Despite inconclusive evidence, some retailers have seized on the narrative that theft is a major issue, pressuring lawmakers to crack down and changing the shopping experience as a result.  

First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic:

• The people who didn’t matter to Henry Kissinger
• We’re living the reality of the pandemic’s simplest math.
• Netanyahu’s odd embrace of Elon Musk

A Moral Panic

The specter of shoplifting is haunting America. Viral videos show frightening scenes: people in masks smashing windows, groups swarming stores, thieves attacking, and advocating for harsher larceny laws—under the auspices of trying to deter theft. Despite some disturbing reports of both violent and nonviolent crime in stores, conclusively show that instances of shoplifting are up everywhere; shoplifting has risen overall during the past four years in New York and Los Angeles but dropped off in more than a dozen other cities, according to a recent from the Council on Criminal Justice.