When it comes to criminals who specialize in shoplifting one wonders if their is one time of year more than others that they increase their thievery. Also, is there certain times of the year that they feel unusually compelled to commit this illegal act.

The only ones who truly could answer these questions is shoplifters themselves. To those who would never think of taking something that they hadn’t paid for they don’t realize that there are different factors that can drive some people to shoplifting.

Of course there is your standard unethical greedy thief who is looking to make some cash without having to work for it in an honest way. So shoplifting them is worth the risk of getting caught. Probably if they were to put as much effort into finding and holding down a job as they do into perfecting their thievery techniques they would be pretty successful in life.

Then there are some shoplifters where they for all intensive purposes are decent people, except they have a compelling urge to shoplift. Some have actually written a book on this and not because they are proud of their thefts either. You may have heard the technical term for this which is kleptomania. For people in this category it is an illness and not a controllable behavior. Knowing this doesn’t help the shop owners who end up taking the brunt of these acts through the loss of revenue because of stolen items.

Then on occasion there really is the honest mistake. A shopper who has their hands full may inadvertently slip an item into their pocket just for the sake of carrying it with every intention of paying for it when arriving at the cashier, except it get’s forgotten about and the individual ends up getting caught by security.

In respect to certain times of the year such as the Holiday season and whether shoplifting is on the rise during this time, there are a couple of reasons why it could be. For the plain and simple thief they count on the store clerks and security being kept so busy with the onrush of shoppers that they figure they have a better opportunity of being successful.

Then there are some who tend to fall into shoplifting at this time of year because they cannot afford to buy gifts, and feel more pressure during the festive season.

Looking at if from the retail industry’s point of view while some of these acts may be uncontrollable, or they have sympathy for the individual committing the act, they still have a business to run and this has got to be their priority.