Posted on 04/04/2024 3:08:21 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Cullan Mais used to shoplift almost every day.
The 31-year-old would often travel from his home in Cardiff to towns such as Abergavenny where he would then steal up to £4,000 worth of goods in a day.
“We’d park up on the one end of town and we’d hit the shops,” he told ITV Cymru Wales while visiting Abergavenny for the first time since kicking his habit.
“We’d take the stuff back, we’d drive back around to this side of town and do the same here.
“There’s certain opticians up here, pharmacies, clothing shops, that were hit frequently. I would average anything from £2000 to £4000 in retail price.”
Cullan was jailed 10 times for shoplifting. Cullan’s reason for doing this was simple, he was making enough money to feed his addiction to heroin.
He has since beaten this addiction, and without the need to buy drugs to feed his habit, he has also stopped shoplifting.
He said: “At the time I felt like it was a badge of honour, like I’m good at doing this. Looking back on it, it’s shameful.
“It doesn’t worry me anymore because I’ve paid my dues, anything that I’ve done I’ve been caught for, I’ve done my time for.”
Shoplifting hits 'epidemic levels' as workers fear for their safety
Survey reveals one in five shop workers suffered a violent attack in 2023 While Cullan has recovered from his addiction, shoplifting figures in Wales continue to rise.
More than 21,000 cases of retail theft were recorded by police forces in Wales last year, an increase of 36% from the previous year, higher than any other country in the UK.
That increase is having an impact on both businesses and their employees.
Violence and intimidation are widely reported, and there are fears police are struggling to help tackle the problem.
Cullen has now turned his attention to raising awareness of the causes of crime and how to tackle them. As far as Cullan is concerned, punishment doesn’t work. Instead, preventing the causes of crimes such as shoplifting should be the priority.
“I’ve been to jail ten times for shoplifting,” he continued. “The penalties they have in place right now, it just aren’t working.
“People are getting caught for a couple of bottles from a shop, they’re going to jail for four weeks then they’re coming out and going straight back to the same shop and doing it again.
“What I would say is we’re seeing a pattern of behaviour with people who shoplift and we need to do something else apart from sending these people to prison.
“I think it should be more of a health issue if it’s driven by addiction.”
Dr Fred Cram is currently the Director of the Centre for Crime, Law and Justice. Dr Frederick Cram is the director of the Centre for Crime, Law and Justice at Cardiff University.
He studies an approach known as ‘Integrated Offender Management’, a form of rehabilitation of persistent offenders within the community.
“Mainly people are shoplifting for drugs, and so that requires a response that tackles that need that that person has around substance misuse,” he told ITV Cymru Wales.
“Connecting them with the right services, gradually moving that person away from that lifestyle, rather than relying on short prison sentences which I don’t think work.
“They often result in greater poverty, greater chaos, they don’t necessarily disrupt drug use, and they’re expensive.
“Really we need to think about what we can do more cheaply, more efficiently in the community, and that’s going to produce the outcomes that society wants, but also, and at the core of that, is going to really benefit the individual.”
Cullan now works with the same charities that helped him with his drug addiction. Cullan now works for one of the charities that helped him turn his life around.
“The majority of people that I engage with and speak to - they’re all good people stuck on their luck.
“They don’t want to be shoplifters. And it’s just trying to give them the belief that they can change.
“I’ve been accepted back into the community and given some sort of identity.
“I’m trying to be that person who’s trying to show people you can turn your life around, you can be accepted in society, you can get a job, you can stop committing crimes.”
Some businesses fear many of the traditional methods of deterring shoplifting no longer work. Policing and justice in Wales falls under the responsibility of the UK Government’s Home Office.
In October the National Police Chiefs’ Council launched its Retail Crime Action Plan.
In a statement, the Home Office said: “Progress is being made through a police commitment to prioritise attending the scene of shoplifting instances involving violence against a shop worker, which is an aggravating factor and carries tougher sentences for offenders.”
Whatever happened to “3 Strikes And You’re Out”?
Conscript the shoplifters and send them to Ukraine.
How has he "paid his dues"? Has he reimbursed everyone he stole from?
Christians don’t lie and steal.
Prison can be a solution, unreasonable/early release is not a solution.
I’ve met plenty who do.
That works.
The Saudi method of removing a hand would also work.
They'd run out of hands on the second conviction...
You can’t shoplift in jail. Or rape or kill somebody.
Nobody rehabilitates that doesn’t want to habilitate. He’s right, jail is not working, we should start cutting off fingers and hands. It doesn’t have to be the Arab way, where they just slice off your hand, we can do it medically, but when they start losing body parts, they will stop stealing.
Yay. Sharia! That’s the ticket.
He is now off drugs and isn’t shoplifting anymore
Why not amputation? Given that we’re all culturally enriched these days...
So they should get drug treatment while they are in prison.
But the point of putting people away IMO is to make everyone else safe from their crime. Four weeks of course isn’t going to work for addicts.
Cut his hand off.
Simple solution. Send him to jail, chain him to a table during feeding time, and let other prisoners grab what they want off his tray.
He’ll get a quick lesson in the costs of shoplifting.
“Cullan’s reason for doing this was simple; he was making enough money to feed his addiction to heroin.”
Well there ya go! All is forgiven, Buddy! *SMIRK*
Eventually we all pay for this behavior. Increased prices, insurance etc. Then, if it keeps getting worse we all pay by being inconvenienced since the items will no longer be available to locally run out and obtain on a whim, but will have to order and then wait for delivery.
The more morally corrupt society becomes the harder this behavior will be to contain. Just as our constitution can not work for a morally corrupt people, neither will the kinds of laws that have helped to maintain a civil society. Unhinging from the “burdens” and “constraints” of our nations past Christian teachings, while giving fools unbridled freedoms such as access to child sex, will come at a high cost.
Yeah, right. I'm sure he shoplifted only ten times.
Whatever. Keep him in there.
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