What causes crime? An old truth comes to light in our day: “Material poverty does not cause crime; spiritual poverty causes crime.” Or said another way: “A lack of virtue in one’s soul causes crime, not a lack of dollar bills in one’s wallet.”
Case in point: Business leaders from around the state are joining forces to combat organized retail theft, as statistics reveal that billions of dollars worth of goods are stolen from stores annually in Washington. A Forbes study from 2023 found that no state in the US is more heavily impacted by retail theft than Washington, and the Forbes Retail Theft Index found that our state sees 48% more retail theft than expected based on population. The ramifications of retail theft are vast – when businesses lose money from high levels of theft, they are forced to increase the cost of merchandise to compensate for that loss, disproportionately impacting lower and middle-income families.
Earlier this month, business leaders from around the state gathered for a public safety summit hosted by Challenge Seattle to discuss collaborating with police, prosecutors, and the legislature to develop new strategies to combat organized retail theft.
“Organized retail crime is a growing problem here in Washington state. Unfortunately, we now have the distinction of being one of the most impacted of any state in the country,” CEO of Challenge Seattle and former Governor Christine Gregoire explained. “We also know it’s a tie to unfortunately all kinds of violent crimes. It’s not just going in and stealing from the retailer. They’ll take whatever measures they have to take to get what they want, whether that’s draw an illegal gun or [something else].”
Panelists at the event included U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman, state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion, and Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison. Many of the speakers highlighted the need for local businesses to join forces to break up the theft rings.
“We want a public-private partnership, second to none, where we are all working on the same page and bluntly stated, we’re more organized and more effective than they are,” Gregoire noted.
Seattle and King County prosecutors shared that their departments have focused heavily on building concrete cases against repeat offenders, which has “led to a 74% reduction in case referrals regarding organized retail theft and 2,000 fewer misdemeanor cases being filed” in Seattle.
A new website called the Organized Retail Crime Resource Hub was promoted at the summit to “help collaborate more effectively across jurisdictional boundaries to better close in on organized retail theft rings.” Challenge Seattle also issued a report this month called Organizing a Public-Private Partnership to Defeat Organized Retail Crime, which emphasizes the need for a “comprehensive approach where all partners understand their roles and responsibilities.”
Washington is not alone in its struggle with retail theft – many other states also face rising levels of organized crime. Florida noticed a rampant increase in crime in “blue districts” due to “a growing problem throughout the country because of social media-organized looting incidents.” However, the state’s response has led to a 30% decrease in shoplifting while other states still grapple with rising levels. So, what did Florida do? Most notably, they sharply increased penalties for retail theft, porch piracy, and inciting looting via social media, and heavily publicized the fact that they were doing so.
“Some of [the] most iconic cities in our country turn a blind eye to retail theft and allow it to continue, costing jobs and higher prices,” Florida Representative Bob Rommel explained. “We have also seen porch pirates target residents by stealing packages, often containing important medications, right off their property. In Florida, we are holding these criminals accountable for their lawlessness.”
Washington should use Florida’s approach as a model for our own path forward. Criminals are not taking our laws or our justice system seriously. Two things need to happen: one, all offenders should be held accountable for their crimes under our current laws, and two, the penalties for repeat offenders should be increased to dissuade future infractions. Holding criminals accountable for violating our laws and the rights of other citizens is an essential role of government. We need to restore law and order in our state – and it begins by prosecuting all criminals to the fullest extent of the law.
More fundamentally, we need to remember that crime is not caused by poverty but by a lack of spiritual virtue in one’s soul. Dennis Prager writes:
That is worth remembering whenever an American claims that violent crime in America is caused by poverty. The poor who commit murder, rape and robbery are not only not starving, they have far more material things than the word “poverty” suggests. According to the U.S Department of Energy’s Residential Energy Consumption Survey for 2005 (the last year I could find in detail — but it doesn’t matter what year because those who say that poverty causes crime have said it for a hundred years and continue to say it), among all poor households: Over 99 percent have a refrigerator, television, and stove or oven. Eighty-one percent have a microwave; 75 percent have air conditioning; 67 percent have a second TV; 64 percent have a clothes washer; 38 percent have a personal computer.
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