Prosecution accomplishes what?

my 18 year old brother shoplifted, payed the maximum amount possible back to the retailer.. which by michigan law is 200 dollars because it was under 50 dollars... but now the retailer is taking him to court, and we're trying our hardest to keep this off his record.. i was just wondering what prosecution will accomplish? can they get more money? or is prsecututing strictly for determination of punishment?
Answers:
Under the practice of "civil restitution" now common in many states, the retailer has the shoplifter sign an agreement to pay a penalty fee and promise never to come back to the store in exchange for the retailer not filing any criminal charges against the shoplifter. If this store had your brother sign such an agreement, then they can't press any charges against him unless he also did something else in addition to the shoplifting (such as damaging property, or assaulting somebody on the property). It's also possible that your brother broke the agreement by later coming back into the store, thus allowing the store to press the original shoplifting charges plus trespassing charges against him.

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He broke the law -- the prosecution's job is to bring people to trial and seek punishment if they are convicted.
He broke the law -- it's as simple as that.

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Your brother would not be having these problems if he wasn't stupid in the first place. I'm so sick of the "poor law breakers" being persecuted. Are you kidding me? Tell you brother to be a man, shut up, and take his punishment. Oh yeah, and you might want to tell him to grow a brain and stop breaking the law. If you don't like my answer you can always dial 1-800- waaaaaaaaaaaa.

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Hey BigFill try dialing 1-800-EAT-S#$T! This kid is not asking you to run your mouth about something his brother did! You need to be taken down a notch or 3. There's no need for you to degrade that kid. If you choose to open your mouth make sure your opinion is at least valid and applicable to the situation.

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pappy...thank you about bigfill. agree with you.
as for the question, if it is the retailer taking him to court, then it is civil court. since he already repaid the retailer, i don't see what he's trying to accomplish. the scenario will be the retailer telling the judge that your brother took something but then paid it back...end of story.
if the DA takes him to criminal court, that might be more of a problem but since it is under $50 and has been repaid many times over,50 to 200, he has a defense and most likely should be fine unless there's more to the story.
good luck to him..