Greg Jeffries is security manager at Fashion Fair Mall in Fresno.
School is back in session, and most people will decide to make a trip to the mall. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to pay for what they want.
With over 9 million visitors a year, 950,000 square feet, and 149 merchants, the opportunities are abundant at Fashion Fair Mall, where I work as security manager.
Recently, two young ladies were approached by an individual representing a store at Fashion Fair. Upon inspection of their bags, we discovered approximately $480.00 of merchandise, none of which had been purchased.
Shoplifting is a serious crime. Its prevalence impacts everyone's freedom to browse retailers without store personnel watching our every move.
Where I work, it seems that many shoplifters tend to be teenagers. In fact, the National Crime Prevention Council reports approximately only 25 percent of people apprehended for shoplifting are between age 13 and 17. The obverse is that approximately 75 percent of shoplifters are actually adults, not teens (with a small percentage being pre-teens).
Typically, a teen shoplifter who gets caught will be punished through the traditional juvenile court system. I've come to recognize that this traditional approach does not necessarily result in fewer teen shoplifters. In fact, many of these teen shoplifters grow up to become shoplifting adults who join the 75 percent.
So what options remain? At Fashion Fair Mall, we are seeing extraordinary results by implementing a program that requires teen shoplifters to make amends and take full responsibility for their actions. In doing so, that youth is restored back into the community and the chances of re-offending are far less than if that youth had gone through the juvenile court system, which can take a young person away from his/her community.
Judge David Gottlieb (presiding Fresno County juvenile justice judge) is using the Community Justice Conferencing program. Noelle Daoudian, director of the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program, has also created extraordinary results.
The rate of teens who re-offend after completing these programs is approximately 6 percent, which is in stark contrast to national recidivism rates as high as 70 percent among teens who are processed through traditional juvenile courts.
In mediating shoplifting offenses, we discuss the consequences of the young offender's actions on everyone. When they realize the emotional price their parents pay, along with higher prices for community members, their perspective widens, and they begin to develop sincere regret.
A required task within the program is the public reading of an apology to their victim, which takes place during the mediation session. The victim is usually the storeowner, or a manager. I often act as proxy for the busy merchants.
These programs are achieving results, and the participants display recognition of consequences. I saw this happen in the two girls mentioned above. They both went through the program, and when I saw them again at the end of the process, they said they felt ashamed and sorry for what they had done and the trouble they caused.
Mediation is an opportunity to show young people how to become responsible, productive citizens. At the same time, it reduces the burden on our juvenile justice systems.
I was asked recently why I bother to spend time on this, when we have courts to punish crime. My own response surprised even me. I have become a true believer in "restorative justice" -- another term for mediation -- because I see that when we show each individual that as a caring community, we expect responsibility but allow for mistakes, the 25 percent has the potential to impact the 75 percent.