The first time Anna*, a junior at Garfield, stole something, it was entirely on accident. It was seventh grade and she was hanging out with her friends in South Center Mall, on a quest to find something cute to wear to her first middle school dance. She was trying on jewelry with her friends at Claire’s when a set of silver hoop earrings caught her eye. Even though it was against store policy, she slipped them into her ears. It was only after she arrived at her best friend’s house that she noticed she was still wearing them.

“I was freaking out. I thought they would for sure notice that those earrings were gone and that somehow they would know that I’d taken them with me when I’d left. I’m pretty sure I was about to tell my mom,” laughs Anna.

Once the initial guilt wore off though, Anna decided against calling her mother. She kept them, only wearing them when she was out with friends.“It was like getting a present. I didn’t have to pay for it, and all my friends thought I was really badass. You always get away with it your first time” she says.

In the beginning, Anna only stole small things.

“I stole stuff that was easy to hide like accessories and makeup. I was still really paranoid and inexperienced, so me and my friends would only hit up the big chain stores that are really busy so we wouldn’t get noticed. We had this whole buddy system set up. It was fun, kind of like a game.”

Once Anna and her friends gained confidence, however, they became more adventurous. They targeted to places they were too scared to go before; higher end retail stores like Anthropology and Nordstrom. They began stealing larger and pricier items, developing a complex system which involved a scout and a lookout. Their shopping sprees became more like heists.

“We got pretty good. We only went in groups of three or two so we wouldn’t draw too much attention, and we would always stake out what kind of security system the place had. I started carrying my moms sewing scissors with me so I could cut out the beepers. It was like our little obsession” laughs Anna.

But the “shopping” spree ended upon a visit to Sephora freshmen year.

Anna and her friends had entered the store on a winter afternoon, with the intent of some casual lifting. They had strategically spread out, and began loading up. Two of her friends had gone over to the Urban Decay product isle when Anna noticed they were being observed.

“I could always tell when stores were on to me, ’cause you can just feel them like closing in on you. They two girls who I was with were pretty new to this, so they didn’t really know what they were doing. I was just hella dumb for letting them go off by themselves and f***ing things up for me” says Anna.

Anna watched with horror as her friends were confronted, escorted out, and warned to never return.

But the encounter wasn’t enough to scare her away from shoplifting. She hasn’t stopped. She can’t stop. The thrill of the mission is much too addicting, the benefit of stylish new cloths whenever she desires too good to pass up. Anna doesn’t ever feel guilty. It’s not as if guilt could stop her now anyways. She is far to accustomed to the lifting lifestyle for shame to eat at her conscience. Anna is used to getting everything she wants.

According to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention, in the United States alone $35 million in goods are stolen from retailers daily, $13 billion annually. It is people like Anna who make these numbers real. Stores have to pay for these losses from their own pockets, subtracting the cost of stolen items from their profit. In terms of preventing such losses, there is little they can do.

The modern shoplifter has learned to outsmart the stores attempts at prevention, with an array of techniques. Nibbling holes in the clothing to loosen the plastic detector, hiding other items in the pockets of other clothing, and stealing the hangers as well to avoid suspicion from employees, are among the tricks used by “lifters” to accomplish their mission.

These tricks were developed by the high school crowd. Twenty five percent of people who shoplift are between the ages of thirteen and seventeen, according to the National Crime Prevention Council, and fifty-five percent of adult shoplifters began as teenagers. Of these teens that fall into that category, nearly all of them have the same incentive to steal: to prove that they can.

Jamie*, a sophomore at Garfield didn’t steal because she didn’t have the recourses to purchase clothing. She did it because she could.

“I didn’t need all the clothes I stole. I didn’t even want them. But because I could have it, I took it” says Jamie.

Jamie shoplifted so frequently during the time from seventh grade to freshman year that her entire wardrobe was composed of items she did not pay for. Just like Anna, she would go on stealing sprees every weekend. It didn’t even matter what the clothes looked like. All that it did was highlight the fact that she could possess whatever that caught her eye.

“It got so excessive. I ended up even stealing for my friends because I didn’t need any more stuff” says Jamie.

But unlike Anna, Jamie is aware of what her actions have effect on.

“I know it [stealing] is bad. I had rules, like I would never steal from small boutiques or anything. But I had no problem taking from big corporate companies because they have enough money not to be hurt by just a few things missing.”

But according to Tanya, an employee who has worked at the clothing store Betsey Johnson for around three years, shoplifting hurts, no matter how big the business is.

“My work is like a home. We’re really welcoming here so it kind of sucks when someone just comes in and takes from you. Its hurtful,” says Tanya.

She is also very aware of the people who steal from her store.

“You can just feel it. The people who do usually seem suspicious just because their so jumpy. You’ll approach them and they’ll just freeze.We might not always say something, but we always know.”

The type of people who Tanya sees stealing are all the same: well-off adolescent girls.

“It’s the kids who have money who steal. They don’t need to do it, they just can. They’re used to getting whatever they want in life, so when they come in they think they can have it their way in here to.”

Unlike Anna, who has no intention of stopping, Jamie has let go of her former habit. It wasn’t because she was caught, or sick of being paranoid of the chance she did. And it certainly wasn’t because she didn’t appreciate the steady flow of new cloths anymore.

“I guess I kind of grew out of it. It was kind of like a phase, you know? I don’t shop as much as I used to. I just hang out more.”

As for those who continue on the trend such as Anna however, Tanya has some words of advice:

“You might think you’re sneaky. But I always see you. I always do. Watch out.”

*names have been changed