Silver-Haired Shoplifters On the Rise In Japan

Here in Sapporo, police in September arrested a 71-year-old retired man in a grocery store after he tried to steal 14 items, including ice cream, worth $27. He told police that he often shoplifts.

The man receives a social welfare check for about $1,600 a month and lives with his wife, who is ill and unable to do housework. He told police that his wife's illness caused him stress but that when he steals, he feels "refreshed."

At the time of his arrest, he had $7,500 in cash in his pocket. He told police that he preferred not to spend money on groceries.

This country of 127 million has the oldest population on record. Slightly more than 22 percent of residents are 65 and older. (In the United States, about 12 percent of the population is that age.) For the first time in Japan's history, people 75 and older make up more than 10 percent of the population.

The number of children, meanwhile, has declined for 27 consecutive years. Demographers say the elderly -- who tend to live longer in Japan than elsewhere -- will continue to increase until 2040, when they will outnumber the young by nearly 4 to 1.

To slow the growth of elder crime, the Justice Ministry recommends that the government create programs to stabilize the lives of those older than 65, financially and socially.

The government, though, has moved in the opposite direction in recent years. As many as 64 million government pension records have been lost as part of a botched effort by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to computerize the pension system. Despite government reassurances, the loss of the records has frightened the elderly, many of whom are concerned that there will be no pension for them in the future, said Koh Fukui, an official of the shoplifting-prevention group.

"Some elderly people are shoplifting because they feel that with all the problems of the pension system, they should save their money for the future," he said.

A government survey of 137 elderly shoplifters in Tokyo found that a desire to "cut back on spending" was a primary motivation of 59 percent of the women arrested. Two-thirds of men said they stole because of their tough financial situation.

The global financial crisis, which has plunged Japan into what economists predict will be a severe and protracted recession, is likely to limit the government's ability to spend more on programs for the elderly. Spending is also limited by the government's enormous debt burden, the highest among wealthy countries, which amounts to 182 percent of gross domestic product.

Police and nonprofit groups say few organizations in Japan are able to provide counseling for the elderly, either before they are arrested for shoplifting or after they have been taken into custody.

Elderly people accused of petty theft are usually released after a warning if they show remorse, police say. In most cases, prison terms are given only to serious repeat offenders.

When the elderly are released from prison, most return to the same isolated lives that helped push them into petty theft, police say.

In supermarkets and convenience stores across Japan, public-awareness campaigns to prevent theft have been hindered by foot-dragging among store owners, who do not want to offend loyal customers.

"There is resistance to putting up posters saying, 'Shoplifting is a crime,' " said Fukui, of the prevention group. "Merchants don't want their customers to think that they are regarded as potential shoplifters."

Special correspondent Akiko Yamamoto contributed to this report.