FOR FINE DEFAULTERS WOULD ONE DAY IN CUSTODY FOR EVERY £ OWED REDUCE THE DEBT?

22. Feb. 2010. – 16:04:40

Her Majesty`s Court Service should not be organised to make a profit. It is part of the justice system and without it the law of the jungle would be upon us. It is a fundamental part of a government`s responsibility to its citizens as important as ensuring the armed forces have sufficient resources to protect us from invasion. It is arguably more important than the NHS. This was a democratic country before 1948.

But notwithstanding the above it is the duty of government to ensure that all monies owed to any of its branches is collected as efficiently as possible. Hence the frequent advertising of the dire repercussions for those not buying a TV license or taxing their car.

However when it comes to the collection of unpaid fines perhaps there is room for improvement. In the financial year 2007/8 there was £500.6 million unpaid. In 2008/9 that figure had risen to £545 million. It seems that in Swansea enough is enough.Swansea magistrates court will stay open after hours this month as part of a blitz on fine defaulters and offenders who have failed to attend court dates. Operation Crackdown will see court enforcement officers and South Wales Police taking part in a series of blitzes on offenders' homes as part of the two-day operation. They will chase up warrants for non-payment of outstanding fines and warrants issued for failure to attend court.Extra vans have been drafted in from outside the area to take offenders to the magistrates court which will remain open until 8pm on both nights of the operation.

Accurate figures for the number of people imprisoned as fine defaulters are hard to come by. At the third reading of the Criminal Justice Bill on 27th February 2003 David Heath MP for Somerton and Frome stated that; "Things have changed over recent years and far fewer fine defaulters are imprisoned now. I hope that my figures are accurate: in 1994 22,469 males were imprisoned for an average of seven days and 1,454 women for an average of five days; by 2001 those figures were greatly reduced to 1,382 males for an average of six days and 73 females for an average of two days."

On 31/10/1995 414 fine defaulters were in custody. On 30/06/2004 there were 52 fine defaulters in custody. It would appear to the untrained eye that amounts of fines outstanding increase as the number imprisoned for non payment reduces. In other words deterrence just doesn`t exist for those who don`t pay. Perhaps we should not be too quick to disavow ourselves of the methods used in some southern United States. I can vouch for the rate of $1 per day in a County Prison for every dollar owed after all other methods have been exhausted in attempts by the court to get its money.