Help for ‘Shoppers’

Light-fingered Winona Ryder wouldn’t be allowed in this exclusive Newport Beach ladies group. Not enough remorse. Too many prescription drugs.

Otherwise, she fits the bill: a woman who lifted a whole bunch of store goodies that she had the money to buy.

The nonprofit Alternative Sentencing Program runs a 12-step-type group for shoplifters, many of whom are sent to the program much as a drunken driver might go for alcohol treatment. The offenders must be financially secure, not because the three-month program costs $400, but because of the Winona Factor. The thieves -- 90% of them women -- easily could have afforded the stolen items. They stole not for greed but because of a dark need within.

How can you tell the difference? Nancy Clark, director of the program, says shoplifters whose problems are psychological rather than financial react to their crimes with shock and shame. They’re apt to steal things they can’t use, such as too-big clothes.

What Clark’s clients don’t do is deny they committed the crime. That would eliminate Ryder. Clark said she also doesn’t admit people who have drug or alcohol problems. In addition to 400 hours of volunteer work, Ryder was sentenced to drug counseling after being found with several prescription pain drugs.

Clark might not be ready to welcome Ryder to her program, but she’s grateful the actress brought this problem out in the open. Women with a similar dark secret have been phoning Clark in droves. They want to be stopped before they’re arrested.

Bravo for them and for a program that helps them and society.

But it’s troubling that financially comfortable people who can take advantage of Clark’s program are getting a break in their sentencing. The women in Clark’s program steal because of the thrill of getting something for nothing. But that doesn’t make their crime any less serious. There are no equivalent programs for people who steal out of need.

Progressive as the program is, it also needs to build a track record. Several hundred clients have passed through the shoplifters group during the last five years, but no one has kept statistics on whether it reduces repeat crimes.

It’s time to develop some data. Kleptomania can be as tough to beat as alcoholism, Clark said, especially since it’s hard to avoid tempting situations. Almost everybody has to go shopping sometime.