I posted on 9/11 on my situation. My story differs from other recent posts by first time offenders in that I was sent to a court that does not offer alternative sentencing or a diversion program. Forgive me if my reply reeks of melodrama. It's simply what I'm feeling at this time.
I think that throughout this process I have been forced to reexamine my own values, to look at myself and what caused me to do the things that I did. I have inspected myself and now I believe truly more than ever that things are not so neat and tidy to be black and white, right and wrong - there are shades of gray.
I am now considered a criminal. At that time before I was caught I would never have thought of myself as one. And I am sure that many committing the same acts now do not understand that what they are doing is considered a criminal act. Many have described themselves as I would to be clean cut and normally law abiding citizens. I know that ignorance is no excuse, but I am genuinely surprised to understand what I did is something considered as terrible in the eyes of the law as vandalism, prostitution, or assault.
Being normally a conservative and law abiding citizen of meek nature and temperament the mortification of having been stopped for shoplifting itself was enough to really expose me, to serve as a wakeup call. I had really believed I was so worthless as to become invisible, that no one would care about me, that I was starting to disappear. That I was stopped and noticed was terrifying enough, it is that experience alone that deters me now.
However, then I was detained and arrested. And now in addition, because of a consequence of zip code and unavailability of alternative sentencing I am facing criminal charges which will dog my shadow forever. Because of a 10 mile difference, and an inherent inequality in the court system, I am looking at the world of difference between having charges dismissed in a diversion program to bearing the burden of a misdemeanor charge. In the eyes of the law, because I made this mistake, I am now permanently a criminal, as if I were a prostitute, as if I had defaced somebody's property, as if I had assaulted somebody. My resentment towards this and the other aspects of my life I sometimes feel is almost enough to lure me back to shoplifting, because I feel as if I've been thrown away. (However I am holding fast to my renewed belief that karma comes around...)
I have come to an opinion that as much as business is driven by the bottom line, and that there seems to be a general belief that simply imposing harsher penalties will deter crime, the real need is to address the underlying causes of the problem, otherwise there will just be a cycle of endless perpetrators/victims getting slammed with criminal convictions. However, it seems that since shoplifting is the number one criminal offense in the nation, and the justice system is moving towards a response of criminalizing those who fall victim to the lure of shoplifting... We are becoming fodder for another circuitous system tailored just so to feeding the budget for Loss Prevention officers, feeding the pockets of lawyers working for retail, feeding the pockets of criminal defense lawyers.
I do not believe it is the job description of store level LP to determine where the line is on good and evil, they are just doing their jobs that are set by company policy higher up. They are merely the hands and feet of those who command them. Thus, any thinking on things other than black/white right/wrong are irrelevant to efficiency which is praised above all else, above such irritating, time-wasting things like conscience and humanism.

