Shoplifting at Wal-mart

*All names have been changed to protect the identities of the participants.

Caught Shoplifting

Asia Montgomery was caught shoplifting at Wal-mart with her friend Diana.  Asia was arrested but Diana was not.  The Baltimore City Police referred the Asia’s police report to Community Conferencing in the hopes of resolving the matter without involving the court system.

Alternative to Court

The facilitator drove to Wal-mart to speak with their Loss Prevention Manager, Mrs. Butler, to offer a way to hold the two young girls accountable for the $30 worth of cosmetics they shoplifted.  She explained to Mrs. Butler that Community Conferencing is a court diversion process that allows everyone to:

• hear what happened
• listen to how each person has been affected by
• the incident
• decide how to best repair the harm and prevent it from happening again

Mrs. Butler liked the idea of not having to take time from her schedule to go to court, especially since the value of the items was under $100.  She agreed to meet with the girls to make sure they understood how much of an impact shoplifting has on their store and that store policy dictates that once caught, the girls can’t shop in Wal-mart again until they turn 18.  The Community Conference was scheduled a convenient time for Mrs. Butler to hold it right there on store grounds.

When the facilitator contacted the girls and their families, Asia and her father eagerly agreed to participate.  They understood that if an agreement is made at the Conference, and if everyone follows through with the terms of the agreement, then the matter would not be pursued any further by the Baltimore City Police.  If the group couldn’t reach an agreement, then the matter would be referred back to the Baltimore City Police to be processed in the usual manner.  Even though Diana wasn’t arrested, she and her father also agreed to participate because of her involvement; and more importantly, because of her friendship with Asia.

The Community Conference was held in one of the surveillance rooms at the store.  Asia shared how she doesn’t even know why she did it especially since her father gives her allowance money to buy things.  “It was just a stupid thing I did for the thrill -- to see if we could get away with it.”  Diana chimed in, “The minute we got caught I thought – oh my God!  My Dad is going to kill me!”

Mrs. Butler shared how she was on duty that afternoon.  It took time out of her day to deal with yet another shoplifting incident.  She was glad to recover the items and couldn’t believe the girls risked getting arrested for less that $30.  She called both families and that’s when she learned only one of the fathers, Mr. Watkins, was willing to pick up his daughter Diana.  Asia’s father, on the other hand, insisted that his daughter get handcuffed and taken to juvenile booking in order to teach her a lesson.  Before Asia was taken away, both girls heard from the officer they couldn’t return to the store until they turned 18.  Mrs. Butler explained that shoplifting costs the store thousands of dollars each year.  That means the store has to raise their prices to compensate for the loss so everyone ends up paying for their actions.

Apologies

Mr. Montgomery spoke up and said, “I did what I thought was best for Asia.  Even though all of this is really embarrassing, I want Asia to understand this is a serious and I’m very disappointed.”  Asia, without hesitation said, “I really did learn my lesson Dad.  I’m sorry.  And I’m sorry Mrs. Butler for all the trouble I caused.  It was a dumb thing to do.”  Diana added, “I’m sorry too.  I shouldn’t have done it. And I’m sorry about making things so difficult for you, Mrs. Butler.”  Everyone accepted their apologies.  Both girls promised to never steal again and if they ever see their friends doing it they will walk away.  Mr. Montgomery asked the girls to tell their friends they shouldn’t shoplift, either. 

In closing, Mrs. Butler told Asia and Diana she appreciated their apologies so much that she would make an allowance for them to shop at Wal-mart again as long as they were accompanied by their parents.  She was willing to bend the policy a little because of how the girls accepted responsibility for their actions.

Accountability

Each of the apologies and resolutions were included in the written agreement for everyone to sign.  Asia couldn’t believe that Mrs. Butler allowed her to shop in Wal-mart with her Dad instead of waiting until she turned 18.  Mrs. Butler said, “Well, if you two had come to this meeting with an attitude and hadn’t taken responsibility, then this Conference would have looked a whole lot different.  I accept your apologies.”

The Community Conferencing Center submitted a disposition to the Baltimore City Police indicating the matter had been resolved.  The case was closed.

* the names of the participants have been changed in order to protect their identities.

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