South Carolina store allows teenage shoplifters to work instead of pressing charges

[Kamaji]

South Carolina store allows teenage shoplifters to work instead of pressing charges

By Landon Mion, Fox News
March 26, 2023

Two South Carolina teenagers stole from a store at a mall in Greenville, but the business elected to turn the incident into a learning opportunity and a chance to give back to the community instead of pressing charges against the shoplifters.

The teenage boys were caught by Greenville Police on surveillance video on March 13 stealing from Palmetto Moon in Haywood Mall.

But Palmetto Moon president Amber Dube said that when the clothing store learned the shoplifters were teenagers, they wanted to work with the families on resolving the issue without pressing charges.

As a result, the boys will work for Palmetto Moon.

“I think this is a situation where teenagers do stupid things, and we know that,” Dube told FOX Carolina. “So I think it’s important for us to think about what they did and really judge on the merits of who they are and what they can contribute back to the community.”

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/03/26/south-carolina-store-allows-teenage-shoplifters-to-work-instead-of-pressing-charges/

[Maj. Bill Martin]

What could possibly go wrong?

[Kamaji]

What could possibly go wrong?

What could go right?  Presumably the store owners know what they're getting into.  It wasn't forced on them.

[roamer_1]

There ain't nothing wrong with that...

I had a similar deal... A kid messed me up. Property damage. Took out a fence row and the horses got out.

The kid was caught, dead to rights. Witnesses that knew him. He was busted and arraigned. But his old man called me up and came over to sit on the porch. An honest assessment from him left a hope that we could settle it between us.

The cops and the court were already involved, but I went and spoke for the kid, and told the judge we had an agreement and providing that the kid honored his father's word, providing restitution, the judge ruled the charges would be dropped, except for the traffic violations.

And it all worked out. I hired the kid on and paid him half wages, withholding the other half as restitution performance, and he helped me fix the fence, and mucked stalls and such until the debt was considered paid.

There was a lesson in that. He got the message.

[Kamaji]

There ain't nothing wrong with that...

I had a similar deal... A kid messed me up. Property damage. Took out a fence row and the horses got out.

The kid was caught, dead to rights. Witnesses that knew him. He was busted and arraigned. But his old man called me up and came over to sit on the porch. An honest assessment from him left a hope that we could settle it between us.

The cops and the court were already involved, but I went and spoke for the kid, and told the judge we had an agreement and providing that the kid honored his father's word, providing restitution, the judge ruled the charges would be dropped, except for the traffic violations.

And it all worked out. I hired the kid on and paid him half wages, withholding the other half as restitution performance, and he helped me fix the fence, and mucked stalls and such until the debt was considered paid.

There was a lesson in that. He got the message.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

That's a great story @roamer_1 , but if the multiple kids had stolen things from inside your house, would you then have let them work that off by working inside your house for a few weeks?

These kids were shoplifters, and the owner is giving them a great opportunity to do it again.  You want them to work it off in a way that can't bite you in the keister, I think that's different.

[roamer_1]

That's a great story @roamer_1 , but if the multiple kids had stolen things from inside your house, would you then have let them work that off by working inside your house for a few weeks?

These kids were shoplifters, and the owner is giving them a great opportunity to do it again.  You want them to work it off in a way that can't bite you in the keister, I think that's different.

Maybe so... Depends on the kid.

The punishment must be real. But just throwing em into the justice system ain't going to solve a damn thing. Recidivism is a real thing. So maybe break the chain.

I have a different outlook I guess. A lot of the guys who worked for me were cons. I am a hard ass as a boss, but I always treated them square. And many of them were grateful for the chance and became very good workers, proving themselves trustworthy.

And some did not. Not much different from the ones that hadn't got caught yet.

And I'll tell you what, you didn't mess with my sh*t. And if you did, you'd be facing my whole crew.