[_xerces_]

Many cities have an organized theft problem and are doing very little about it. Even when the police catch the perpetrators, they get little to no punishment. There doesn't seem to be much of an effort to go after the fencing networks either. Things seem to be getting worse in a lot of urban areas too, where I live I have noticed the decline over the last 5 years which has led stores to not only lock things up, but a lot of them hire security guards or off-duty cops to man the entrance/exit and they also have closed entrances to make everyone enter and leave through a single set of doors.

As well as the organized crime, I think there is a culture problem in some areas where it is "OK to steal from the man", well it is until the store in your area closes and now you live in a food/retail desert and have to take a bus to buy anything.

[bloomingkales]

People stealing is a side effect of something. I think the country is getting poorer and the chickens are coming home to roost. People have resorted to stealing because they feel poor. Shit, rich people feel poor now days. Imagine what poor people feel.

No excuses, but this a macro phenomenon that will always require nuance to understand.

Many poor people probably look at another poor person pocketing $100 here and $100 there on stolen items and realize there’s no point in being a good person. Life is hard, who is going to hand you anything. And so it follows, all of our souls now rot together.

Being poor has that effect on you.