Shoplifting Case Study

Ann Claxton and Sarah Haycock were charged with theft on September 6, 1769. They shoplifted on August 23 and stole goods worth 36 s. According to one of the witnesses who was the owner of the shop the incident took place, two women came into the shop looking for printed linen and she showed them. The two women haggled about the price and one of the women went outside. The other woman in the store asked to see some muslins and the shop owner, Susannah showed her. The woman outside, Haycock, later came back into the store, but this time, she asked Susannah what was in the window and when she turned, the second woman, Darlin bent down pretending to put her garter on. When they left, Susannah noticed her Muslins were gone. Her husband’s partner,

It was a believe that shoplifting was a female crime as most shoppers are women. In Week eight’s note, there were 284 prosecutions for shoplifting between 1890 and 1940. Only nine out of the 284 prosecutions were men. Shoplifting was also associated to women due to their clothes. Women’s clothes such as cloaks was perfect for hiding things. The shop owner, Susannah, in her testimony, said one of the ladies wore a long cloak while the other wore a gown. Looking at this and going by one of the reasons shoplifting is associated with women, it can be said these ladies were shoplifters. In this week’s notes, it was said that shoplifters work in teams to distract the sales person while the other person quickly steal. The case of Ann Claxton and Sarah Haycock is an example of this

Are there people that train them and/or plan together to execute this act? During this period, women were viewed as the weak ones. I believe that men were part of the team who plan this act, but, it was the ladies job to execute it. The women can go into the shop to shoplift while the man/men stay in the car to wait for them to come out and quickly drive off. The men can also stay in a corner to collect the goods from the ladies and each party go in a different direction. In the shoplifting case, the goods were not found. What must have happened to it within just few hours after the incident occurred? Probably there was someone else they handed the goods over to after leaving the