My 12 year old has just been caught stealing from us. My question is, what do I do next and how do I get him to stop.

Take him to the police. May sound drastic but a lot of the time police are prepared to deal with this sort of thing, because it helps nip it in the bud. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying have him arrested, but police in this area will give the kids a good telling off and show them the cells and let them know in no uncertain terms what will happen if they do this sort of thing again. It scares the hell out of most kids!

Ok, normally I am tough about children, but I havve to ask is this the first time or do you have reason to believe he has done it before,

Why was he, what was he stealing. ( if he was stealing your pot supply from under the bed, it is different than stealing money from your purse *somewhat differetn anyway)

Often it can be a cry for attention if he has been having issues over family problems.

But of course it can also be a sign of drug use, to steal to get money to buy drugs.

You need to determine where this is and what is happening to your child. what other behaviors are there.

Serious punishment, no TV, computer, gameboys and the such for a long period at least. Perhaps see if you both can volenteer at a soup kitchen to see what happens to many people, let him hear their stories.

I believe all of us make poor judgements at times, and we can all use a second chance for most things (with some exceptions of course)

Do you have the resourses for a couselor ?

Ask him why. If it is money for something that you don't want to buy but that is not harmful to him, do you give him the opportunty to make money? Eg) chores or odd jobs for neighbours.