Over half of Britons believe that stealing food if you are starving is fine a new survey has revealed.
Police recorded 469,788 shoplifting incidents in the year to June, a staggering 29 per cent rise on the previous year and equating to over 1,200 offences per day.
Retailers have stated that this shoplifting surge is seeing an additional 6p added to every transaction , with less than half of cases ultimately being resolved.
The actual magnitude of the issue is thought to be considerably higher though, with many offences going unrecorded or unreported.
In the wake of this spike, a new survey has found that 51 per cent of Britons believe that stealing food if you are starving is acceptable.
A large percentage of Britons also believed that the shoplifting of baby products if you’re a parent who can’t afford them (44 per cent) and shoplifting food if financially struggling (40 per cent) was acceptable.
However, there was a sharp drop-off in attitudes towards the acceptability of stealing items such as toiletries (30 per cent) and clothes (20 per cent).
Moreover, a mere 3 per cent of Britons saw it okay to shoplift luxury goods such as phones and designer items.
The survey, conducted by YouGov, also found a stark generational difference in attitudes towards shoplifting.
For instance, a massive 80 per cent of 18-24 year olds thought it acceptable for a person to steal food if starving, whereas just over a third of over 65’s agreed.
Similarly, just under two thirds of 18-24 year olds saw it as okay to steal toiletries if unaffordable to someone, with just one in ten over 65’s in agreement.
There were also striking divisions over the acceptability of shoplifting from a large company. 54 per cent of 18-24 year olds viewed it as okay, whereas just 3 per cent of over 65’s did.
With over half of shoplifting crimes going unresolved, three quarters of Brits feel the police are poorly handling the shoplifting epidemic, with 73 per cent of people believing it should be considered a serious crime.
This was a sentiment which crossed political divides, with Labour, Lib Dem, Conservative and Reform UK voters all overwhelmingly agreeing that more could be done by authorities to combat shoplifting.
Despite viewing shoplifting as a serious crime, only one in six Brits believed that it should be punishable by prison time.
Almost half of survey respondents felt that community service was an adequate sentence, with a further 14 per cent agreeing that just a fine was fit for a shoplifting offence.
