This might be somewhat true in some costal cities where there was a deliberate policy choice to make petty theft a misdemeanor (and thus encourage more crime), but this is just flat out not true where I live in the south. Theft is still very much prosecuted and not tolerated. I have never seen anyone just walk out with bags of stolen goods here, and our store aisles are not covered in locked plexiglass. Decline is a choice.