01/09/2009 - Retailers 'should make statements'
The chairman of the Magistrates' Association has called on independent retailers who have suffered persistent shoplifting to attend court and offer victim statements.
John Thornhill said: "If a local newsagent or convenience store or particular individual [owner] has been a persistent victim they can write a victim or personal statement to be read out in court."
He said that doing this might not necessarily alter a shoplifter's sentence, but it would give magistrates a broader picture of the problems created by shop crime.
The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has welcomed his comments on the repeated use of fixed penalty notices (FPN) for shoplifting.
Thornhill suggested "professional" thieves, people who stole to fund drug or drink habits or prostitutes who needed to pay pimps, should attend court, as FPNs did not tackle the underlying reasons for the thefts and the fines frequently went unpaid.
He said courts could often tackle the underlying causes of the offending and successfully collected 85% of the fines they imposed, compared to a 45% recovery rate for successful non-court fine collection.
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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