Tougher Shoplifting Laws Could Worsen Court Backlogs and Divert Resources

The Crime and Policing Bill aims to abolish the £200 threshold for shop theft offences, meaning more cases could be tried in Crown Courts.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper and Rother Valley election candidate Jake Richards (R) talk to a shopkeeper about Labour's plan to tackle anti-social behaviour, street crime, and shoplifting during a visit to Maltby, Rotherham, England, on May 30, 2024. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The government’s plan to toughen shoplifting laws would worsen court backlogs and divert resources from more serious cases, critics have warned.

Under the proposed Crime and Policing Bill, all shoplifting offences—including those involving goods worth less than £200—would be classified as either-way offences, meaning they could be tried in either magistrates’ courts or Crown Court.

Ministers say the move is needed to tackle rising retail crime, but critics argue it will increase pressure on the justice system.

Speaking in Parliament on Monday, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said changes to low-value shop theft offences could have “unintended consequences.”

Philp warned that reclassifying shoplifting as an either-way offence would allow more defendants to request a jury trial in Crown Court, significantly increasing case delays.

“Instead of those cases being heard in the magistrates’ court within six to eight weeks, there could be a delay of up to one and a half years. I am sure that is not the government’s intention, but that is what could happen if the change is made,” he said.

Legal experts say the Crown Court system is already stretched, following COVID-19 lockdown-related backlogs and staff shortages. In the year ending September 2024, the backlog reached a record high of 73,000 cases, compared to the pre-lockdown low of 33,290 in March 2019.

Stuart Nolan, chair of the Criminal Law Committee at The Law Society told The Epoch Times that sending more shoplifting cases to Crown Court would be costly and time-consuming.

“This would put pressure on the system. If a defendant denies the charge, they have a choice to go to Crown Court, where cases take much longer to be heard,” he said.

For cases where theft is of high value, magistrates already refer them to Crown Court. But under the new proposals, even low-value shoplifting cases could be sent to Crown Court.

“If you stole something small, say a pair of shoes, that case would normally be dealt with quickly in magistrates’ court. But if the defendant chooses a jury trial, that case could take months or longer to resolve,” said Nolan.

He added that defendants who take their cases to Crown Court risk receiving a tougher sentence if found guilty than they would in a magistrates’ court.

In England and Wales, the £200 threshold means that shoplifters taking under £200 worth of goods face a maximum sentence of six months and can plead guilty by post.

In a Crown Court, the maximum punishment for theft, including shoplifting, is seven years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.

Nolan questioned whether harsher sentences would reduce shoplifting.

“Academically, there’s not a lot of good evidence that long sentences deter people,” he said, adding that many offenders steal owing to poverty or drug addiction, rather than weighing up legal consequences.

Crime and policing minister Chris Philp (2L) hosts senior figures in policing and 13 of the UK’s biggest retailers in Downing Street to set out a joint plan of action to tackle shoplifting, in London, on Oct. 23, 2023. Aaron Chown - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Extra Numbers and Costs

Philp argued that lowering the £200 threshold would divert “valuable and scarce Crown Court jury trial time” away from serious cases such as rape and murder, instead forcing the system to handle more shoplifting trials.

Nolan also noted that Crown Court trials require “premium” resources and it would be difficult to see how extra cases wouldn’t bring pressure on the justice system.

“They are more costly because you need juries. You often have bigger buildings and more time for jury trials than in magistrates’ court,” he said.

The government estimates that changing the shoplifting threshold could add 2,100 cases to Crown Court, with numbers ranging from 200 to 5,400.

The extra court costs are expected to be between £340,000 and £8.46 million, with a central estimate of £3.3 million.

Shoplifting Epidemic

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has defended the bill, saying the £200 threshold introduced in 2014 under the Conservative government had sent the wrong message, pledging to end the “damaging” rule.

“That kind of crime spreads. It creates a sense of lawlessness and huge anger and frustration among the law-abiding majority, who see criminals getting away with it and respect for the law hollowed out,” she told Parliament.

The move to change the £200 threshold comes amid a record spike in shoplifting offences since 2003, rising 23 percent in the year to September 2024.

Data by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), published on Thursday, found that nearly a quarter of the population has witnessed shoplifting taking place in the last 12 months. Another report, by the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), revealed that shop theft incidents totalled 6.2 million last year.

The ACS report estimates the total cost of crime to convenience stores at £316 million, with each shop losing an average of £6,000 per year.

Both the ACS and the BRC welcomed the proposed bill and the abolition of the £200 shoplifting threshold.

“We look forward to seeing crucial legislation to protect retail workers being put in place later this year,” said BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson.

Labour MP Adam Thompson said the new bill will “come as a relief” to small business owners across the country.

Government’s Own Assessment

Because precise figures on shoplifting cases involving goods worth £200 or less do not exist, the government relies on court data and compensation payments. It estimates that nearly 88 percent of shoplifting cases involve low-value theft.

Over the past three years, 96 percent of shoplifting convictions happened in magistrates’ courts, which suggests that most of them were thefts of low-value goods.

Philp pointed to the government’s own impact assessment, saying, “If this system was ineffective, why did 90 percent of charges relate to goods under £200?”

He rejected the claim that the bill will result in “extraordinary change in the way shoplifting is treated.”

“According to the government’s own impact assessment, there will be no change in the number of charges as a result of this alteration. The home secretary points to this matter as some kind of silver bullet, but I am afraid to say that her own impact assessment says something very different indeed,” Philp told MPs.