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Retailers are having some success in nabbing shoplifters. The Arthur Young study showed that thanks to antishoplifting devices and diligent controls, stealing this year is down 10% from 1983. Last year 700,000 people were arrested for shoplifting. But Peter Berlin, who publishes a newsletter about shoplifting for the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse, says that only one thief in ten is prosecuted. Because of the high cost of trying cases, most stores usually just drop them.
—By John S. DeMott. Reported by Raji Samghabadi/New York and Don Winbush/Chicago