The fines dilemma

What's the point in imposing fines on people who break the law if they don't pay them? That is the dilemma facing the government, which is about to be addressed in legislation; the Herald reports:

Drivers with overdue traffic fines could have their licences suspended under a new law, which would also send people with overdue fines to prison.

The proposed law - the Courts and Criminal Matters Bill - introduces stiffer penalties for overdue fines.

It is before a parliamentary select committee, and is likely to become law early this year.

It is a bid to recover huge amounts of money owed and devise ways of handling people without the means or intention of repaying debt

It is the latter group of people who pose the biggest problem, in our humble opinion; those who have no intention whatsoever of paying for their indiscretions. Is taking their licences away likely to work? We don't think so; in all probability those who have their licences away because they have disobeyed one court-imposed sanction are unlikely to comply with another court-imposed sanction. One only has to look at the increased incidence in convictions for driving while disqualified to see that there is a hard core of offenders who don't rally care what the courts do to them.

It is this hard core which this new legislation should target, and if short, sharp sentences of imprisonment are required, then so be it.

Interestingly, this morning's Herald editorial disagrees, opining:

At its core, it proposes to send more people to prison. Yet the country cannot simply increase the prison population endlessly. That entails an unsustainable cost in building and running prisons, whatever arrangements the Government may enter to leaven the expense. New Zealand already has the second-highest imprisonment rate in the developed world. Jailing a large number of people for relatively minor offences makes little sense.

Whatever its annoyance at unpaid fines and a widespread demand for a strong response, the Government's policy should be pointed more towards that adopted in Britain. There, the Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, has announced plans to reduce the number of people being sent to prison. He believes, quite reasonably, that failed policies have resulted in the country warehousing petty criminals at huge expense and to no good purpose.

We disagree. We've recently seens articles to the effect that the passing of tough boy-racer laws have seen a significant decrease in boy-racer activity. Even though the crusher has yet to be employed, the deterrent effect of the legislation is well-evident. We reckon that the same message should apply to those who flagrantly ignore their fines; if you don't pay, prepare to lose your liberty.

We worked in the courts system many years ago. It was amazing how many people, when the bailiff turned up to arrest them on a Committal Warrant, suddenly found the readies to pay their fines. A softly-softly approach has been tried, and has been found wanting. It's time to get tough on those who flout the system.