Consumer racial profiling is a practice that is damaging to those who are targeted by it and it is not supported by the facts, Shaun Gabbidon said during an address on March 27 at UNC Asheville.

Gabbidon, who addressed “The Black Thief Stereotype: Shopping While Black and Consumer Racial Profiling in the 21st Century,” drew about 100 people to the Sherrill Center’s Mountain View Room.

He is a distinguished professor of criminal justic and public affairs at Penn State University at Harrisburg and a nationally recognized expert on issues of race, ethnicity, crime, private security and criminal justice.

His visit was spurred by an Asheville Mall department store’s false accusation and treatment of Cheryl Johnson.

Johnson, a UNCA graduate who presented Gabbidon, told the crowd, “I am both sad and happy at being able to introduce” him. She said she was sad because she was charged with shoplifting at Belk at the Asheville Mall, but “I am happy that when I went public with my story, the community — you —galvanized to support me.”

To that end, Johnson praised the UNCA Center for Diversity for using her incident “as a teachable moment.” and, because of that, “Dr. Gabbidon was invited to speak here.”

Gabbidon, who spoke for about an hour and then answered questions submitted to him in advance, said, “When I talk about race and crime, I talk about all races and ethnicities commiting crimes. All races commit crimes. There is no crime that any race doesn’t commit.”

He defined “consumer racial profiling” as “the act of discriminating against customers, by retailers, based on their race or ethnicentrity.” He said there are two kinds of such profiling — lack of service or being suspected as a thief.

As to the question of, “Where is the evidence of racial profiling?” he said, “There is evidence of racial profiling... I’m trying educate people more about consumer racial profiling.” He then reviewed charts and studies on profiling, which, he said, supports his contentions.

Gabbidon asserted, “We know very little about this. Why? Because the private security system is closed. They’re not a police department, so each time a situation likes this arises, it’s very difficult to get to this information.”

He also noted that he has a background in private security, from having worked in the industry. He left a security manager position in 1993 to pursue his Ph.D.

He added, “There’s no glory or glamour in shoplifting compared to murder, or other more serious crimes. 

About a decade after he left the security industry, “I decided to explore the issue” or consumer racial profiling after an incident involving his wife-to-be. He delved into many aspects of shoplifting, including the history, contemporary problem, existing scholarly research and the black thief stereotype.

Gabbidon said, “Shoplifting has been around for centuries, notably beginning “in the 1500s, (with) the development of bazaars, markets, shops” and other venues. “Early thieves targeted silks, velvet and silver.”

With the rise of consumerism, Gabbidon said, “department stores were developed, leading to more shoplifting.” He added that “embarassment led to the creation of kleptomania diagnosis.” The problem,” he noted, “was most of the shoplifters were white women, who were part of the ruling class... Kleptomania allowed them to be absolved of their crimes,” but the diagnosis did not apply to lower classes. “The diagnosis removed moral judgment and traced their actions to their biology — or intrinsic urges out of their control.”

He cited statistics from 2011, sowing U.S. corporate retail chain losses — “shrinkage” — at $35.28 billion.

Of that amount, $19.94 billion was attributed to shoplifting, Gabbidon said.

“Where did this behavior (profiling minorities as thieves) originate?” he asked. “Yes, the South is a big part of it.” He said slavery led to the black thief stereotype.”

Near the end of his talk, Gabbidon said, “The question is: Have we progressed since the mid-20th century?

“I probably would agree there’s been some progress, but you would think there would have been more progress,” he noted. Many of the medical issues faced by blacks today may stem from stress resulting from years of facing consumer racial profiling, Gabbidon contended.