单选题 .  Parents always want to understand why kids steal, says Patricia Ruffini, executive director of Colorado Springs Teen Court (a nonprofit alternative sentencing program). "But most adolescents can't explain themselves," she says. "In rare cases, genuine need is the issue. Some are troubled and looking for attention, or lashing out at authority. And many do it to fit in with peers."
    If an explanation for the bad behavior is hard to nail down, what happens in a teen's head—or doesn't—is simpler to decode. "Seventy-two percent of teens say they didn't plan to take anything," says Barbara Staib of the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (NASP). "Most often these crimes aren't premeditated." Instead, impulse, combined with teens' general lack of judgment, takes over. And when summer comes, with less structure and supervision, there's an even greater chance of this knee-jerk stealing. "The courts and the police tell me that when kids have a lot of free time," says Staib, "it increases the likelihood they'll get in trouble."
    A leading industry study found that 61 percent of stores have seen a jump in what they call "amateur or opportunistic" theft.  Concerned retailers are countering the trend with more prosecutions—regardless of how old the thief is or how much he's stolen. Value Chain lowered the age for pressing charges from 18 to 16, and decreased the time stores give parents to get there before police are called, from 90 minutes to an hour. And the cops don't come just for show. "I was arrested, handcuffed, loaded into the back of the cruiser, fingerprinted and put in a cell until my parents came," A teen shoplifter recalls. "It was humiliating." There's a simple motive for these measures—prosecution, along with educational programs, is the number one deterrent to future thefts.
    Once a tween or teen is in the legal system, he faces tougher treatment than in the past. Juvenile courts have become much more punitive. Almost every state has revised its code so that records aren't wiped clean at 18, as they once were, and Internet databases mean even minor convictions may stick. This can lead to difficulty getting into college, earning scholarships and finding work.
    The rise in kids' tech usage has added a new dimension to shoplifting.  Teens are going on trading sites like Craigslist or eBay, as well as Facebook, Twitter and their cell phones to sell what they grab from brick-and-mortar stores. Assuming that nobody knows who they are, kids conclude they're safe. But they're not. These sites have investigators who work directly with retailers to connect goods a store is missing with the UPCs or other codes from items people are selling online. Getting caught is tough enough for teens and their families, but what's also at stake is a moral standard.
    There's alarming evidence that adolescents' values are already slipping.  According to the Josephson Institute, which tracks adolescent thoughts and attitudes, almost one in three kids say they've stolen from a store. Yet 92 percent of teens overall say they're satisfied with their ethics—meaning there's a large group who steal but don't see anything wrong with it.1.  According to Patricia Ruffini, all the following are common reasons for teen shoplifting EXCEPT ______.