Murder takes physical effort. Stealing something you already have in your posession does not take any extra physical effort. Don’t conflate the two. You may als

Murder takes physical effort. Stealing something you already have in your posession does not take any extra physical effort. Don’t conflate the two. You may also be completely ignoring some of the work people have done studying self check outs. My understanding is that people who would never think to hide items from an actual checker are much more likely to leave items unscanned. And that many of them justify the behavior in various ways. I think petty theft is far more instinctive than you may realize. I personally have to fight the urge to steal my daughter’s holloween candy, even though I can easily afford my own, and she would give me some if I just asked. I don’t know where the urge comes from but I know it’s there, and I doubt it’s an uncommon type of urge. Social interactions can really help to bolster behaviors we prefer in ourselves. I can see them being useful in keeping honest people honest. In the same way a gym buddy makes it harder to skip a workout.