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OnePoll (Shoplifters)

One Poll

11 February 2009

NICK OF TIME
NEWS COPY
One in every two British adults shoplifted when they were children, a study revealed yesterday (tues).
Researchers found the average person over the age of 25 stole twice from shops in their earlier years - with more men than women committing the petty crime.
The study of 3,000 people also revealed the value of goods stolen was #46.
Most blamed peer pressure and a third said they were with friends when they committed the crime.
Only one in ten said they were caught by store security or arrested.
A spokesman from research site www.OnePoll.com said: ''It's all too easy to moan about the youth of today but this research goes to show adults weren't so angelic in their younger years either.
''The fact that 45 per cent of Brits have conducted a petty crime shows how influenced youngsters can be and shoplifting just seems to be part of growing up.''
Almost one in ten confessed they had stolen items because everyone else was doing it, yet one in five offenders said it was the thrill of getting something for free that caused their crime.
And when it comes to the most commonly pinched goods, easy-to-grab sweets came top, followed by make-up, food, toys and then magazines.
Yet the pilfering doesn't necessarily stop when Brits grow up as 15 per cent of adults questioned admitted they had stolen something in their later life too.
Supermarkets proved the most common place for adults to pilfer with a third of confessors saying they had picked up an item of food from the shelves to eat while they wandered around the shop.
Over a quarter of folk also said they had pushed an item passed the checkout without paying for it in the past.
And a crafty one in five even confessed to casually walked out of a shop with items stashed in their pockets.
A spokesman from www.OnePoll.com added: ''Youngsters often falter with peer pressure and end up doing things to impress their elders or ensure they stay in the cool gang and stealing seems to go hand and hand with this.
''Yet the research shows petty crime still occurs in adult life too and it's staggering so many Brits admitted they had pinched something later on in life.
''Food seems to be the most common item for adults, with many people admitting they had pinched supermarket goods in the past.''
TOP 10 STOLEN GOODS
1. Sweets
2. Make-up
3. Food
4. Toys
5. Magazines
6. Clothes
7. Jewellery
8. Fruit
9. CD's
10. Underwear
ENDS
Research conducted by global market research company www.onepoll.com