Quote Quoting Surprised2BHere
View Post
I've been reading about this the last couple of days and what I don't understand is if the business owner indeed calls the cops can they still demand civil recovery? If so, why? It seems if the ultimate goal of this was to keep the courts unclogged, allowing both doesn't making sense... Restitution as part of sentencing should cover the business losses.

Is my thinking wrong (and I fully admit it might be)?
Yes, the merchant can do both in most states.

The criminal procedure and the civil demand are two separate issues. In a criminal proceeding, restitution isn't always part of the sentence, so a lot of the states have separate statutes that address the issue concerning the civil fine.

A person may get a fine in a criminal proceeding, but that doesn't go to the merchant.