As well as acting as a deterrent, civil recovery is claimed to cover the cost staff time, administration work and security.
According to a report by the Citizen's Advice Bureau, a number of large and well known British companies are known to employ civil recovery proceedings, including, among others, Arcadia Group, BHS, Selfridges & Co, Matalan, Asda and Tesco.
[2] The Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service says that recovery of funds and items stops them being reinvested into further criminal activity.
[6] The Attorney General's Office advise that these powers should only be used when either a criminal conviction is not feasible, or, if one is, when it is still within the public interest to proceed.
These include: Some believe that people are ashamed or intimidated by the threat of court action and escalating costs into paying the demand without challenge.
[5]: 1 In the case of "A retailer vs Ms B & Ms K", the first civil recovery case to proceed to full trial, Judge Charles Harris QC dismissed the retailers claim, made up almost entirely of £82.50 for "staff/management time investigating and/or dealing with the incident", in its entirety and permission to appeal was refused.
Every state has a civil recovery law that holds shoplifters liable to pay retailer's any losses as a result of their unlawful actions, and some states amend those laws periodically to increase recovery amounts, in line with inflation.