Former Green MP Golriz Ghahraman has been convicted and fined after pleading guilty to four charges of shoplifting, totalling nearly $9000 worth of clothes.
In a sentencing hearing this week, defence lawyer Annabel Cresswell cited “loss-reactive shoplifting” — when an otherwise law-abiding citizen shoplifts amid a mental health crisis — as the reason behind Ghahraman’s actions.
But what does this term mean? Psychologist Hedwig Eisenbarth explains.
Read more: Exclusive: John Campbell asks Golriz Ghahraman why she threw it all away
What is ‘loss-reactive shoplifting’?
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The term “loss-reactive
has been around for a very long time, Eisenbarth says.
“It’s the reaction to an experience of loss, and that loss can be in the past, it can be some time ago, even years and years ago.
“Loss-reactive shoplifting is not a term by itself, but the idea of that loss-reactive behaviour has to do with a traumatic type of loss like the loss of a person, rather than a loss of control, leading to behaviours that are unusual.”
In Ghahraman’s case, Cresswell argued this unusual behaviour was shoplifting.
How does this apply to Golriz Ghahraman?
Ghahraman was elected to Parliament in 2017, making history as New Zealand’s first refugee MP.
As a high-profile woman of colour in a public-facing role, she was subject to “pretty much continuous” death threats, according to former Green Party co-leader James Shaw.
Since her arrest, Ghahraman has been diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder and prolonged duress stress disorder.
Cresswell cited the “public vitriol, threats and abuse” she experienced in parliament and her war-torn upbringing in Iran as contributing factors.
Why do people who can afford items shoplift?
“I think what is really important to know is that shoplifting is a behaviour, it’s not a characteristic,” Eisenbarth explains.
“Somebody is not a shoplifter, it’s a behaviour that anybody can show at any time, and there can be many different reasons for doing it.”
While some people may steal out of necessity, there can be myriad reasons behind why somebody might steal in the moment, she says.
“People who have very direct needs — maybe they need food and they cannot afford it — might shoplift for that reason. But for people who steal in the moment, they don’t necessarily need something, there’s an element of impulse that can be derived from all sorts of angles.
“When someone shows that [impulsive] behaviour, you need to look closely and think what their motivations might be in the moment.”
Is getting away with it part of the thrill?
The thrill of knowing you can do something illegal and get away with it could be one of those reasons, but it’s an example among many, Eisenbarth says.
“Knowing someone’s characteristics doesn’t give you enough information to know why a person shoplifted. There are situational factors too — sometimes a person might do it in the very moment and they would never do it again.
“Shoplifting is such heterogeneous behaviour itself; if you were to ask people, ‘who was shoplifting or stealing something once or twice when they were younger?’ You’ll find it’s a behaviour teenagers often show, and it can be a very common thing people do for common reasons.
“Knowing you can get away with it is probably not at the forefront of somebody’s mind when they’re doing it, but there might be a subset of people for whom that might be the relevant reason, based on their past or their beliefs or their criminal attitudes, but we’re not able to understand that from the outside.
“Sometimes it’s not even clear to the person themselves why they did it in that very moment.”
By Jogai Bhatt of rnz.co.nz