As many
as a quarter have shoplifted
Youngest, least educated, non-religious biggest offenders
TORONTO December
20th, 2014 –
In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll™ among 1058
Ontarians 18 years of age and older, as many as one seventh admit outright to
shoplifting in the past (15%), coupled with a similar proportion who prefer not
to answer (12%), for a total of about one quarter (27%) who may be guilty of
"boosting". Incidence of explicitly admitting to petty theft is
especially common to the youngest (22%), mid income groups ($40K to $80K -
19%), eastern and southwestern Ontario (19% each), New Democrats (19%) and
Greens (26%), the least educated (19%) and those who have no religious
affiliations (26%).
“Shoplifting, petty theft which is relatively
easy to admit to, is a young person’s game, and that's a proxy for New
Democrats, Greens and the non-religious," said
Forum Research President, Dr. Lorne Bozinoff.
Lorne Bozinoff,
Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416)
960-9603.
