1 in 6 Young Americans Have Stolen Something in the Past Year
A new study tracking teens and young adults finds that stealing is quite common: about 1 in 6 report having swiped something in the past year.
The study, published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, found that for most of these young thieves stealing is just a temporary phase, likely because they decide the risks outweigh the benefits.
Geoffrey Fain Williams, an economist at Transylvania University, used data on self-reported thefts from Ohio State University’s National Longitudinal Study of Youth, which followed more than 8,000 people who were 12 to 16 years old when the survey launched in 1996. In the 15 years that followed, participants were asked about a variety of topics, including stealing. The subjects were regularly asked whether they had stolen something in the past year and if so, how much it was worth....
