19 Years Old, Caught Shoplifting Out of State, First-Offense, Police Not Called

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Rhode Island

I was caught shoplifting $48 worth of merchandise from Urban Outfitters while visiting a friend in Rhode Island, but I am a 19 year-old resident of Massachusetts. I am a first time offender. The manager handed me a "Civil Demand Customer Notice" which stated that I will be "receiving a letter in the future, explaining the amount of monetary damages Urban Outfitters, Inc. will be seeking" and also had me sign a trespassing notice that said I am banned from all Urban Outfitters/Anthropologie/Free People stores for a period of three years. The police were not called, the only thing I signed was the trespassing notice, and the whole ordeal was over within ten minutes.

My questions are as follows:

1. Will I be required to go to court?
2. Approximately how much in civil monetary damages should I expect to be asked to pay?
3. Is there any way I can get away with not paying the civil damages? (I'm expecting not, but I figured I would pose the question just in case. I'm a broke college student.)

Thanks very much!

1. So far, no. But don't pay the Civil Demand and pretty much expect to hire a lawyer in R.I., and make atleast one special trip for that court appearance. Or risk an arrest warrant for failure to appear.

2. It varies by state. Some may be as little as $150. Some may be $500.

3. Pay it. Unless you want the store to pass along the file to the authorities for Criminal Prosecution; want the amount to increase and potentially lead to having your butt sued in Civil Court, and want your credit history affected. Oh...and if the store filed those Criminal Charges...you would need to explore how your college/career goals could be screwed. And even more so financially when you add in the cost of a lawyer/public defender, court costs and fines, probation/community service, how it would look on a Criminal Background Check...

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Quoting jyd

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Thanks for the speedy response, PandorasBox! I'm definitely going to pay the fine, but I won't be happy to do it. I'm aware that shoplifting is a crime, but when all's said and done, huge corporations like Urban Outfitters/Anthropologie/Free People are more likely than not committing far more heinous crimes on an international level and not catching any grief... but thus is the nature of capitalism/our courts system. I guess I'll just find another (less illegal) way to "stick it to the man."

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Wait a damn minute.

You stole from Urban Outfitters because of their international crime wave? What a load of self rationalizing crap.

Name the crimes they have committed... or are you just "sure" of it. You do realize, of course, that saying things like that is civilly liable behavior, right?

Of course, you still wanted that clothing created with the blood of international victims enough to steal it...

By the way, being prosecuted for stealing has NOTHING to do with capitalism... well, except that you didn't lose a hand or an eye to the "man" in this country.

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Quoting cyjeff

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Wait a damn minute.

You stole from Urban Outfitters because of their international crime wave? What a load of self rationalizing crap.

Name the crimes they have committed... or are you just "sure" of it. You do realize, of course, that saying things like that is civilly liable behavior, right?

Of course, you still wanted that clothing created with the blood of international victims enough to steal it...

By the way, being prosecuted for stealing has NOTHING to do with capitalism... well, except that you didn't lose a hand or an eye to the "man" in this country.

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Well said. Kinda like "well they make a ton of money anyway, they won't miss it."

I sincerely hope your college plans do not include: Retail Store Management; Banking; Law; Taxes; or for that matter, anything that involves money or a high level of trust.

Oh...did we mention....there is a Retail Theft DataBase out there? And you may have your name and SSN in it? Oops...that will show up on a thorough Background Check....and the likeliness of U.O. being a part of it is pretty darn bad for you....

By the way...while you think shoplifting is somehow justified...do you realize retailers lose BILLIONS of dollars per year to it? And that it is passed along to every consumer in price increases?

The Civil Demand you are receiving covers the costs the store incurred in monitoring for shoplifters, the staffing to apprehend them, and those pretty little cameras in the ceiling, etc., do not come free to the stores.....

From PandorasBox:
"3. Pay it. Unless you want the store to pass along the file to the authorities for Criminal Prosecution; want the amount to increase and potentially lead to having your butt sued in Civil Court, and want your credit history affected. Oh...and if the store filed those Criminal Charges...you would need to explore how your college/career goals could be screwed. And even more so financially when you add in the cost of a lawyer/public defender, court costs and fines, probation/community service, how it would look on a Criminal Background Check..."
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Is that correct? If the store has a policy of prosecuting people because they did not pay a civil demand, wouldn't that amount to extortion? I think the only legal threat the store can make in this case is the threat of a lawsuit.

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Quoting rb271

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From PandorasBox:
"3. Pay it. Unless you want the store to pass along the file to the authorities for Criminal Prosecution; want the amount to increase and potentially lead to having your butt sued in Civil Court, and want your credit history affected. Oh...and if the store filed those Criminal Charges...you would need to explore how your college/career goals could be screwed. And even more so financially when you add in the cost of a lawyer/public defender, court costs and fines, probation/community service, how it would look on a Criminal Background Check..."
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Is that correct? If the store has a policy of prosecuting people because they did not pay a civil demand, wouldn't that amount to extortion? I think the only legal threat the store can make in this case is the threat of a lawsuit.

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Civil demands are actual allowed as part of statute law.

Not even approaches extortion... because the two actions have nothing to do with each other and are not mutually inclusive or exclusive.

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Quoting cyjeff

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Civil demands are actual allowed as part of statute law.

Not even approaches extortion... because the two actions have nothing to do with each other and are not mutually inclusive or exclusive.

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I agree that ideally the two actions should have nothing to do with each other. However, PandorasBox's statement
"Unless you want the store to pass along the file to the authorities for Criminal Prosecution;"
implies a connection which would violate this separation and would thus verge on extortion.

Only in the mind of an admitted thief who is now trying every possible theory to avoid having to suffer the consequences of his own actions....

Quote:

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Quoting rb271

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I agree that ideally the two actions should have nothing to do with each other. However, PandorasBox's statement
"Unless you want the store to pass along the file to the authorities for Criminal Prosecution;"
implies a connection which would violate this separation and would thus verge on extortion.

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No.. since a store has BOTH options... civil demand and criminal report... open to it via statute, there is NOTHING extortion about it.

In fact, it is against the law to pay someone to avoid a criminal report. However, in the real world, if a retailer has NOT called the police on you as a favor, poking them in the eye for their generosity is NOT a good idea... and they will look to bring other legal weapons to bear.