article_snippet: Thieves who target wealthy department stores should get lighter sentences than if Thieves who target wealthy department stores steal from a corner shop, a senior Labour MP claims today.
article_snippet: London mayoral candidate wants the law to be changed so the seriousness of shoplifting is decided by the impact on the victim – rather than the monetary value of the item stolen.
article_snippet: London Mayoral hopeful David Lammy says thieves who target wealthy department stores should get lighter sentences than if thieves who target wealthy department stores steal from a corner shop .
article_snippet: Experts also warned it would make shoplifters more likely to target supermarkets.
article_snippet: All forms of stealing are wrong – and suggesting that some people are better able to afford being the victim of it sends all the wrong sorts of messages.
article_snippet: That’s why we are cracking down on burglary and shoplifting.'
article_snippet: Currently, the law decides what constitutes a ‘serious’ shoplifting offence on the basis of an item’s value.
article_snippet: In a pamphlet for the Policy Exchange think-tank, David Lammy says: ‘The impact of a £150 theft, for example, would be far greater on an independent corner shop than on Fortnum & Mason, yet this is not reflected under the current Act.
article_snippet: It is self-evident that the impact of a £200 theft to a large retailer is much smaller that a large retailer would be to a small, independent retailer. '
article_snippet: Many rightly argue that the seriousness of shoplifting should not be based on the value, but on the impact to the victim.
article_snippet: Less impact: The London mayoral candidate believes thieves should receive more lenient punishments for stealing from stores such as Fortnum & Mason than from corner shops .
article_snippet: ‘As with most types of property crime, the social costs of shoplifting are regressive – the social costs of shoplifting hit poorest communities hardest.
article_snippet: ‘Small local businesses in more deprived areas, operating on small profit/loss margins, are least able to absorb the costs of theft and are obliged to pass the costs of theft on to the costs of theft customers through increased prices.
article_snippet: It is completely wrong to punish someone more severely because they stole from a poor person than if they stole from a supermarket.
article_snippet: It would encourage people to steal from supermarkets rather than elsewhere because people would know people would get a lighter sentence.
article_snippet: Wherever the crime takes place, shoplifters should be persecuted as shoplifters normally would be.
article_snippet: Shoplifting has been repeatedly downgraded in seriousness by the authorities over the past decade.
article_snippet: The process began when Labour announced that, where the items stolen were worth less than £200, the offender could escape with an £80 on-the-spot fine instead of going to court.
highlights_snippet: David Lammy believes law should be changed to consider impact of theft .
  
highlights_snippet: London mayoral candidate puts this ahead of monetary value of item stolen .
  
highlights_snippet: Currently seriousness of shoplifting is decided on stolen product's value .