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Shoplifting

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By Nora Harrington

Last week, actress Winona Ryder was convicted for shoplifting (grand theft and vandalism). Ryder is well known among teenagers for roles that capture modern teen angst in movies such as Heathers and Girl, Interrupted. Now her real-life story is also resonating with teens, who make up just 7% of the US population, but represent 25% of those arrested for shoplifting (MSNBC). Youth Radio’s Nora Harrington reports.

Winona Ryder is convicted of stealing clothes from Saks Fifth Avenue, and now America’s talking about shoplifting. But I’ve been wondering for a long time why girls shoplift. I’m only in 11th grade, so why do I know so many girls who steal? Two of them are my really good friends, “Jen” and “Laura.” Obviously, I’ve changed their names. They didn’t know how to describe themselves for the radio, so they described each other.

LAURA: She’s nice, she’s really friendly, and like she’s the type of person that likes everyone before she dislikes them.

JEN: She’s crazy and out there, but then all the sudden she can get all quiet again, talk really quiet.
Can you remember the first time you shoplifted? What gave you the idea?

JEN: It was in eighth grade…There were some blue, like, beady kind of bracelets. And it was like a pack of like 12 of them for like 20.00 and they were hella cute, and I like really wanted them… She was all, “take em.” And I was like, “How? I don’t know what to do.” And then she was like, “Just put them in your hand.” I was really bad.

They laugh about it now, but I know Jen was totally freaked out until Laura taught her how to shoplift. And now, it’s something they do together. I’ll never forget their “shopping trip” this summer. They came back with bags full of jeans, shirts, bras, and an 80 dollar jacket.

JEN: Like I would never, ever steal from like an independent type store or a vendor on the street. Because that’s their labor, and they’re not rich people and that’s just kind of morally wrong and you shouldn’t do that.

LAURA: But I only steal from big humungous chains that are everywhere.

So these girls are picky about where they shoplift. It seems like they somehow feel okay about it, if they think the store they’re stealing from sells clothes that are made with sweatshop labor. But it’s not all politics. And it’s not like Jen and Laura do this because their parents don’t give them any money.

JEN: A lot of times people assume people who steal stuff are poor, drugged out people who are like trying to get a hit…

LAURA: And I mean, my parents work. Like I’m from a pretty stable home, I get pretty good grades, like I don’t know, I’m one of those upstanding teenagers that people are all like, “Hey. You get awards and stuff.” (laughing)

I don’t know why they act like shoplifting is so funny. I guess they get a thrill from getting away with something.

JEN: It’s definitely an adrenaline rush. And so like afterwards you’re kind of like, “Wow” for like 10 seconds. Oh yeah, cuz it’s like before you go through the metal detector you’re like, (noises) and then you walk through and you’re like, “Ahhh.”

Jen and Laura think shoplifting’s something they’ll outgrow.

I wonder how long they’ve been saying that.

For NPR news, I’m Nora Harrington.

HOST BACK ANNOUNCE: That story was produced by Youth Radio.