Measures To Protect Against Claims Of False Imprisonment

False imprisonment
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False imprisonment
Introduction
In the recent past, retailers have expressed a lot of concern against the ever rising shoplifting tendencies observed, especially, in major cities across the world. Shoplifting is a term that has been employed to describe a type of larceny that involves a wrongful obtaining of a product held for sale with the intention to permanently deprive the proprietor of possession. Shoplifters have been reported to cost global retail industry up to billions in stock losses and establishment of preventive measures. This has been reported to cost retailers approximately USD 119 billion in 2011. This has created a boomerang effect presented as increased consumer prices of commodities, and loss of jobs as a result of closed retailer stores (Consumer Goods & Services OMBUD, nd). Nonetheless, adverse treatment of suspected shoplifters by merchants, particularly, with the intention of ‘consumer racial profiling’ has stirred confusion over the rights of consumers and the measures to be taken by merchants upon suspecting a consumer of shoplifting (Christman and Mark, 2014). This paper, hence, seeks to discuss the issue of false imprisonment and merchant’s rights to detain individuals suspected of shoplifting.
Right to detain suspected shoplifters
The right bestowed on retailers to detain individuals suspected of shoplifting is dependent on the prevailing jurisdiction laws that differ from place to place. More often, the response to this menace by retailers’ interventions has at times been dimmed heavy handed with the potential to attract penalties from law enforcement agencies or instigate significant reputational damage (Consumer Goods & Services OMBUD, nd).
To uphold a conviction, every factor of larceny need be demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt, including, investigations of the crime, the victims, the criminals alongside issues inherent in the legislature. While proof of such elements ap...