"I'm not a klepto at all. I don't really go out to steal," says Miranda,* a college freshman who has shoplifted more than a few times in her life. Miranda is a good student. She grew up in a small town in Illinois in a nice house. Her dad is a doctor. Her parents don't mind spending money on her. And she has never been arrested. She can be very sweet and innocent, but she has a wild side and a mean streak. In my conversation with her, she was open and honest, but at the same time, it is hard to understand what Miranda is thinking or what she is really trying to say. She speaks very fast and sometimes contradicts herself.

Miranda's first experience shoplifting occurred during her sophomore year in high school. Miranda and her friend, Kate,* went to Florida together to visit Kate's grandparents. Many of Miranda's friends had already been shoplifting for a while, including Kate. Miranda remembers the incident, "We were really bored and her grandparent's dropped us off at the mall. We walked to Walgreen's and we ended up stealing like $50 worth of make-up." She says this matter-of-factly, with little visible remorse.

After this incident she continued to shoplift, due in large part to the fact that her friends did it. "A lot of it has to do with peer pressure. You want to be cool. People tell you to just do it," she explains. She also enjoyed (and still enjoys) the rush. Although earlier she mentioned boredom being a factor when she shoplifted in Florida, she is quick to deny that boredom is a motive. "For me, boredom didn't have anything to do with it. It was always spur of the moment. I didn't plan it out one day if I was bored and say, 'I'm going to go to the mall to steal some stuff.' If I was there and I had no money or it was something small or really easy to steal then I would do it."

The pilfered items tended to be fairly cheap, such as jewelry from Claire's or make-up. She gives an example, "I bought a pair of earrings and there was another one I wanted but I didn't want to spend the money so I just took it."

She has never been caught, although many of her friends weren't so lucky. "Some of my friends took shirts because they didn't have any money at all to buy clothes," she says. It was these friends that ended up getting caught. For punishment they were no longer allowed in the mall. Although she knows that if she gets caught she will have to suffer the consequences, Miranda says, "I never think about getting caught, plus I don't do it often." She goes on to explain, "Not too much goes through my mind [when I'm shoplifting]. I just watch my surroundings and pay close attention."

Although Miranda has never been arrested, her mother knows she shoplifts. She saw something that Miranda had and asked where she got the money to buy it. "My mom just gave me a disappointing look," she says, "But I didn't get grounded or punished." Her dad isn't aware of her habit, at least to Miranda's knowledge, but she thinks that if he found out, he wouldn't care. He would just warn her about getting caught.

It obviously doesn't stop her completely, but Miranda does feel really guilty when she shoplifts, which is why she doesn't do that often. She says she has done it about eight times total.

She is now a freshman in college, and she still occasionally shoplifts. The last time she did it was last month, on a shopping trip with her mother. They had a fight and Miranda ended up stealing an eyeshadow worth ten dollars, mostly because she was angry. She didn't want to spend her own money or her mother's, even though her mom would have given her the money if she asked. She doesn't feel bad spending money on things she needs but she didn't want to spend "ten bucks for nothing."

Miranda is not a bad person, and sometimes when speaking to her, you forget that shoplifting is against the law. It makes me wonder where the line is between wrong and an actual crime. Stealing is obviously wrong, but if you buy a shirt, wear it with the tag still on, and then return it, is that just as bad? If someone gives you back too much change and you keep it, is that wrong? I don't have the answers, but it's something to think about.

*Indicates that name has been changed

- Linda Buchwald, Associate Editor