Shoplifting skyrockets by 24% across US even as most other crimes fall to pre-pandemic levels

Shoplifting has spiked across the country so far this year — even as many major crimes like homicide dropped back to pre-pandemic levels, a major national crime study showed.

Rates of shoplifting rose an average 24% during the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to the Council on Criminal Justice’s (CCJ) Mid-Year Crime Report released Thursday.

The study reviewed crime statistics from 23 cities across the US, finding shoplifting has steadily been on the rise since the country began emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic around 2022.

Rates initially dropped about 15% from 2019 to 2020 and continued down into 2021, then began to climb through 2023 — but still remained about 10% lower than the pre-pandemic 2019 level.

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Following the 24% spike into 2024, however, shoplifting rates now stand about 10% higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to CCJ’s findings.

Shoplifting has gotten lots of attention in recent years, as alarming videos have spread online showing gangs of hooligans staging brazen “smash-and-grabs” where they overwhelm a store and make off with armloads of goods at once. Others show thieves flagrantly snatching merchandise time and time again.

The problem has become so prevalent across the country that pharmacies and big box stores have begun locking up their aisles up with barriers to curb thievery — much to the frustration of honest customers.

Ernesto Lopez, a senior researcher with CCJ who helped compile the report, noted that a sharp increase could come in part because stores are reporting shoplifting more frequently due to the heavy attention on the problem.

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Despite the massive surge in shoplifting, many crime categories from 39 cities assessed by CCJ largely settled back to pre-pandemic levels after increases during the pandemic — with homicide notably declining.

Homicide rose particularly sharply across 29 cities surveyed by the report during the pandemic — including a historic single-year increase of 30% in 2020 — and continued to surge through 2021.

Murder rates began to decline by 2022.

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But as of July 2024, homicide rates are down about 13% from the same period last year, and 2% lower than the same period in 2019.

Not all cities have seen a drop in murders, and some have continued to see alarming increases, CCJ found.

Buffalo, for example, saw homicide rise 26% year over year in 2024, and 6% from 2019. Syracuse saw an increase of 18% in 2024 year over year, and 15% uptick since 2019.

Despite generally promising crime numbers from across the country, a Gallup poll from late 2023 found that Americans’ personal safety fears were at a three-decade high — with 40% reporting they are afraid to walk home alone at night.

Lopez suggested the disparity between CCJ’s findings about lower crime and Americans’ perception of safety may be driven by long memories from the pandemic, which he called “a massive disruption of social life.”

“They remember the news, the news stories, they remember summer protests. There’s a lot that happened, just a lot of disruption that I think could still be lingering with people,” he said.

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