How did theft become effectively decriminalised in Britain?

Haven’t we all had that panicky, sinking feeling at one time or another? A realisation that we’ve been the victim of a crime. Perhaps it happened when you couldn’t find the mobile phone in your back pocket. Or after you spotted fragments of glass on the road near your car windscreen. You might have felt dread returning home to find your front-door key won’t turn in the lock… because an uninvited guest has secured it from the inside.

Burglary, car crime and pickpocketing are a feature of our lives like back pain and the common cold; we can take precautions to reduce the risk but they’re bound to happen at some point. Classified as ‘theft’, there were 1.5 million such offences recorded by police in England and Wales in the 12 months to the end of March – that’s almost three every minute. There were also 66,000 robberies, which are counted separately because they involve the use or threat of violence.