These are the final notes I made before my exam, in which I achieved a good First. They outline the use of fines as a method of punishment and cover in depth the issues surrounding their use.
- With the penal climate becoming more punitive over recent decades, the use of
financial penalties such as fines and compensation has witnessed a steep
decline.
- However while it is acknowledged that the use of financial penalties has
inherent problems within itself, many of these can be addressed.
- Hence this essay will argue that measures should be taken to reverse the
decline of financial penalties because of the positive contribution to the penal
system that such a punishment can bring.
- Unlike other forms of punishment, fines can be attractive because as while the
level imposed should reflect seriousness of offence, they can also be adjusted to
take into account the circumstances of the offender.
- As it stands, the courts have the power to award them in almost all cases.
- There is no upper limit in crown court, while the £5k limit in the magistrates was
removed for most offences by the LASPOA.
- This flexibility means that fines are capable of pursuing many sentencing
philosophies, and are not always ‘straightforwardly punitive’ as Ashworth has
previously suggested.
o For example, by being able to be moulded around the level of crime
committed, fines can sit comfortably with ‘just deserts’ philosophy which,
while not been as central to sentencing philosophy as it was in the 90s, is
still one the main aim of punishment in the CJA 2003.
o Further to this, fines can also be effective in achieving DENUNCIATION
AND DETERRENCE since while showing society’s disapproval, they can
also act as a disincentives committing similar acts in future.
Evidence from statistics would seem to back this up, with a Home
Office Survey concluding that ‘reconviction rates for fines compare
favourably with community penalties’, which is interesting when
considering that the main aim of CPs is to reduce reoffending.
- There are also obvious economic reasons what makes fines more favourable
over other forms of punishment.
o This is because as well as being easy to administer unlike for example
CPs, they raise revenue from offenders.
o When considering the costs of other sentencing options such as
immediate custody, which the Prison Reform Trust estimates at an
annual £41,000 per offender, fines come out as a far superior alternative
on this basis.
- However, despite their obvious strengths, use of the fine has declined massively
in recent years with Criminal Statistics showing that while one was issued in
55% of indictable cases in 1975, this had fallen to only 18% of cases in 2011.
- Cavadino et al has put this down to ‘rising unemployment, growing competition
from other sentencing and an increasingly punitive penal climate.’
- Though there has indeed been various issues with using fines as a sentencing
option.
- First is the problem of enforcement, with a study by Ashworth showing that
around three quarters of those committed to for failure to pay are unemployed.
- This links directly with concerns surrounding the equality of the system, and had
a big impact in the 80s.
o Since many poor offenders lacked the means to pay coupled with fines
having little effect on the rich, sentencers were turned off from using fines
for a variety of offenders.
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