THEFT: PROGRAM AIMS AT JUVENILE SHOPLIFTERS

A new county-wide program takes aim at juvenile shoplifting in an effort to break the behavior before it matures into adult theft and jail or prison.

The program, for Cape Girardeau County juveniles ages 13 to 16, is called "Shoplifting Diversion" and is a cooperative venture between the county's Juvenile Office, the Community Counseling Center and Cape Girardeau merchants. It starts this month.

"I think it's a positive thing for the juvenile, it's a positive thing for the parents, and it's a positive thing for the business community," said Harry Rediger, manager of JCPenney. "It would appear that everyone could be a winner from this program."

Mati Stone, director of clinical services at the Community Counseling Center, said the program seeks to stop the juveniles' shoplifting by intervening while they are young. Classes for the program, she said, will be held at the center.

Ruth Waldon, the chief juvenile officer for the 32nd Judicial Circuit of Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Perry counties, said the program's classes will meet for one to 1 hours weekly for 10 weeks.

The teenagers could be ordered through juvenile court to attend the classes, she said, or attendance could be included in the juvenile office's informal adjustment program.

"We're trying to benefit two different populations here." said Waldon. "We're trying to catch them when they first start shoplifting and then we're also trying to target those who have a history of shoplifting and all our other resources have not changed that behavior. Hopefully this shoplifting program will."

Only five to 10 juveniles will go through the program at a time, she said. Waldon said the program would start this month, but she didn't know when the first class would be held.

Stone said the program's classes will be taught by Judy Johnson, a licensed clinical social worker and professional counselor. Johnson is director of the counseling center's Perry County office.

Students in the classes will be taught to examine values and their thinking, and to consider their behavior and its consequences, said Stone. The students also will receive instruction on commit to different behavior in the future, she said.

Waldon said she suggested that the program have a merchant or merchants talk to the juveniles to explain how much shoplifting costs them.

The program costs $75 to attend, a fee that falls on the juvenile, Waldon said. Juveniles who can't afford the fee can perform community service to pay for the classes.

Waldon said some businesses including JCPenney, the West Park Mall Association, and Broadway Prescription Shops also will sponsor "scholarships" to pay for kids to attend the program.

Stone said one incentive for the juveniles to stop shoplifting is that it causes problems in their lives that do not easily go away. Those problems, she said, also affect other people.

"And in the future if the behavior recurs ... the person will be facing some legal consequences," she added.

Merchants are included in the program by reporting shoplifting incidents, said Stone.

The involvement of merchants in the program requires the merchants' involvement in that they report shoplifting incidents, said Stone. Community merchants, she said, have responded by showing support for the program.

The idea for the program first took seed about two years ago, Waldon said. She said the program is something the counseling center, juvenile office, and West Park Mall had talked about.

Stone said the counseling center took a survey of community retailers two years ago and shoplifting by juveniles was found to be a problem.

"The problem is we noticed a lot of kids come to the mall for recreation," she said, "and part of the recreation at times is to do some shoplifting."

Despite the survey's focus on shoplifting, the counseling center also received statements from merchants about unsupervised teenagers and substance abuse at the mall, she said.

Rediger said shoplifting by juveniles is a big program. If juveniles get into a pattern of stealing, he said, it's easy for them to justify continuing the thefts with certain arguments. For example, they may tell themselves that prices are too high, he said.

"All of a sudden it becomes a habit. What we're trying to do is to change a lifestyle or habit before it becomes a big problem," said Rediger.

Merchants also are trying to control their costs of doing business, because when something is stolen that cost is passed on to the consumer, said Rediger.

"Incident-wise, juveniles will account for over a third of our shoplifting," he added. "Dollar-wise, it isn't that much. They tend not to steal large amounts."

Waldon said the juvenile office in 1991 had 124 juveniles referrals for shoplifting in Cape Girardeau County alone.