Criminal defense attorney explains why you should avoid self-checkout lanes: ‘Theft by mistake’

A lawyer is going viral She explained why self-checkout lines are often avoided after she shared her thoughts.

Carrie Jernigan (@carriejernigan1), is a criminal defense attorney with more than 1 million followers on TikTok. A lot of her page is dedicated towards aspects of the legal system. TikTokers You might not be aware.

In one recent video, Jernigan said that she typically tells people to “steer clear” of self-checkout lanes. Why? Shoplifters.

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Jernigan explained that shoplifting is a common charge for three types of people after they use a self-checkout line.

She says the first group are professional shoplifters. The second group, however, are those guilty of what she calls “theft by mistake.” This, according to Jernigan, is where innocent people can get into trouble.

“These are the people that I genuinely think just forgot to scan an item,” she says. “It is usually something that was on the bottom rack of the cart … and when they are walking out, asset protection stops them.”

Jernigan says that in the early days for self-checkout, stores would let people go if they forgot their item scan.

“They let almost all of these people either scan and pay for the item, or just let them go, but took the item they did not pay for,” she says.

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Now, however, stores aren’t as lenient, she says. Jernigan believes this because shoplifters have become so skilled at stealing from self checkout lanes that stores are no longer willing to take a chance on whether it was accidental.

“They have lost all sympathy, and they are just taking a ‘Tell it to the judge’ approach,” she adds.

Jernigan then breaks down the third group. These people, who she calls “the truly innocent,” are usually charged long after the day they bought something.

“It is something that [happens when] asset protection is doing a quality-control check, or inventory that weeks, days, months later comes up short,” she says. “So they will begin watching hours of video.”

She says that these checks can sometimes lead to shoppers being unfairly charged because they purchased an item that was lost.

It is easy to get very high stakes. Shoplifting is generally considered a misdemeanor. However, there are many states that can allow it. sentence offenders to a year in prison. The prison sentence could be extended if the crime is made a felony.

Jernigan’s last bit of advice? Don’t pay in cash. As she explains at the end of the clip, that will make it even harder to prove what you did or didn’t buy.

If you’re innocent, Jernigan notes, it’s likely that you’ll eventually be able to present evidence to prove it. But this comes at the expense of time, money, and effort.

“At that point, so much damage has already been done,” she says.

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The post Criminal defense attorney explains why you should avoid self-checkout lanes This article was first published on In The Know.

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