OAN Staff James Meyers
8:26 AM – Thursday, July 25, 2024
A new crime study shows that shoplifting so far this year has increased by almost 25% in the United States.
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The rates of shoplifting increased an average 24% halfway through 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to the Council on Criminal Justice’s (CCJ) Mid-Year Crime Report revealed on Thursday.
The newest study gathered crime statistics from 23 cities across the U.S., finding shoplifting has continued to rise since the country began to return to normalcy from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022.
Videos have continued to emerge across multiple platforms showing groups committing “smash-and-grabs,” where they storm into a store and make off with goods at once.
The problem has become so alarming across the country that pharmacies and stores have begun locking items on specific aisles to curb stealing.
However, even with the surge in shoplifting, crime categories from 39 cities assessed by CCJ went back down to pre-pandemic levels.
Meanwhile, homicides increased in 29 cities surveyed during the pandemic, which included a staggering 30% in 2020 and surged through 2021.
Still homicide rates began to go down by 2022.
As of July 2024, murder rates are down almost 13% from the same period last year, and 2% lower than the same period in 2019.
Despite the decrease in homicide’s, a Gallup poll from 2023 revealed that Americans’ personal safety fears were at a three-decade high, with 40% reporting fear of walking home alone at night.
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