Turning
Point for Civil Demand
A Paradigm Shift
Part 1
This is the first of a two part series on a concept being
put forth to solve an issue facing retailers which is either
happening now or it will be coming to your area soon. Lohra
Miller is the CEO of Turning Point Retail. She has crafted
much of this showcase and Civil Demand Associates has
aligned itself with this process. She is a former prosecutor
and district attorney so she brings a vast amount of
experience to our industry. The following is based on her
experience.
As a prosecutor for over 20 years I began and ended my
career with retail theft trials. My first trial, anxious and
new, went off without a hitch. The police officer and LPA
both showed up whereupon the defendant immediately plead
guilty. My last trial, while I was relaxed and confident,
was a disaster. The police officer was stuck on a call and
could not make it to court. The LPA had moved stores and did
not receive a subpoena. An hour later, when I finally
tracked my witnesses down, the case had been dismissed, I
had been chewed out by the judge for wasting the court's
precious time on a "$15 theft," and the defendant walked out
court with a smirk on his face. He had just gotten away with
his seventh retail theft charge.
Like retailers, police and prosecutors believe retail theft
offenders should be held accountable for their actions. This
includes not only accepting responsibility for their
actions, but reforming their behavior and making restitution
to the retailer. Most importantly, we understand that
without accountability, the antisocial attitudes and
behaviors of offenders will escalate in frequency and
severity. As problems facing courts, communities and
criminal justice professionals increase in complexity and
size, the limitations of the existing system are both more
evident and more critical. In fact, in recent years the U.S.
Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that 60% of petty
offenders are convicted.
Unfortunately, the voice most often lost in the chaotic
criminal process belongs to the victim of the retail theft.
The traditional system, which focuses upon punishing
offenders, does little to help retailers recover losses due
to the offender's actions. In response to this problem, most
states passed civil recovery laws to allow retailers the
ability to recover damages through a civil law suit. This
method, while in theory gives retailers recourse to recover
their losses, still faces many of the same challenges as
criminal justice: The cost of enforcing a civil demand
vastly outweighs the amount collected in an individual case.
Without the integrity of enforcement, the culture created
among offenders has resulted in decreasing collections
nationwide. Just Google "I received a civil demand letter,
what should I do?" and you will find page after page of
responses telling the person to ignore the letter.
As any parent will tell you, and study after study has
proven, in order to change behavior, consequences must be
immediate, proportionate to the offense and consistent. Any
solution crafted to address this problem must be based upon
these three simple criteria. Turning Point Retail (TPR)
has developed a
unique and promising collaborative approach to offender
accountability and behavior modification. TPR's technology
quickly identifies appropriate offenders then offers them
the opportunity to voluntarily pay restitution and attend a
behavior modification program. By quickly resolving a large
number of first-time offenders without using scarce criminal
justice resources, the system then has the capacity to hold
repeat and non compliant offenders accountable.
Contact:
Frank Luciano
818-787-7200
Frank@CivilDemand.net
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