Civil recovery demands

Retailers in the 50 States of the United States have the authority under state laws, that have been passed within the past several years (starting in the early 80's) to demand civil damages by letter notice from apprehended shoplifters in amounts, minimums and maximums, authorized under the state statute in which the conduct of the criminal offense of theft takes place. A conviction for shoplifting, i.e., theft or fraud is net requisite to the civil demand for damages by the retailer and the civil demand can be made and settled before a civil lawsuit is filed against the shoplifter in the appropriate civil court. A civil demand may be made by the retailer under most of the state laws whether or not a criminal sanction has been initiated by the retailers' loss prevention personnel.

Two State Courts of Appeals have ruled that a shoplifter cannot be prosecuted under the criminal statute of the state governing shoplifting if the defendant has already satisfied a civil demand made by the retailer, but there has been no reconciliation or clarity in case law concerning the use of the civil demands and the criminal sanction in most of the United States. Under State civil laws, shoplifting is a tort. Under federal government policy in retail stores, "shoplifting" which is larceny under criminal law is considered a "debt" and is collected as a minimum $200 Administrative Fee under Department of Defense policy in government retail stores, A Maryland federal magistrate judge has ruled that defendants can be prosecuted for larceny after they have paid a civil demand debt to a government retail store.

These somewhat new state statutes that render shoplifting a special tort can be accessed for any of the 50 states in the public libraries of the cities of the United States who maintain the revised Statutes of the State in which the library is located. These civil statutes for shoplifting make reference to the criminal statute that describes the crime of shoplifting as misdemeanor or felony theft or fraud, and the criminal statutes can also be accessed in the public libraries.