What the Shoplifting Panic Reveals About U.S. Crime Policy

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“This is not a contested finding in the field of criminology,” said Jake Horowitz, director of Pew Charitable Trusts’ safety and justice research. “Even a severe sanction like a potential felony, in which you’ll spend more than a year in prison, is not an effective deterrent.”

A 2018 report from Pew bears this out. Since 2000, at least 39 states have increased the value of stolen goods required to trigger a felony charge. States that increased their thresholds experienced the same overall decline in property crimes over the last two decades as states that did not, the analysts found.