This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Sentencing Commission
05/06/2006
The Sentencing Commission for Scotland has today published its report on the Basis On Which Fines Are Determined.
The Commission's Chairman, the Rt Hon Lord Macfadyen, said the body's report contained the following key recommendations:
- that the necessary prerequisite for changing the system governing the imposition of fines to one involving unit or day fines as seen on the Continent
- amely a simple reliable and cost-effective means to gather information on offenders' income - was not currently available
- that offenders who can demonstrate, by way of verified information, that their total disposable income is extremely low or the imposition of a fine would bring it to an extremely low level should not be fined and should have an alternative punishment imposed, for example, a Supervised Attendance Order or a Community Reparation Order
- that offenders who default on a fine up to £5,000 should not be imprisoned for default but should have a Supervised Attendance Order imposed
- that the penalty for breach of a Supervised Attendance Order should be increased so that up to 3 months' imprisonment may be imposed
Lord Macfadyen said:
"This is the third report that the Commission has produced. The fine is the most frequently used penalty in our criminal courts, though its use has declined in recent times as the number of sanctions for criminal behaviour has increased.
"Despite what is reported from time to time the very great majority of fines are paid in full. Sometimes, the effort to recover them is arguably disproportionate to the value of the fine but that, of course, is only part of the equation.
"A more significant part, in our view, is that the execution of any sanction imposed by the courts in response to criminality must be enforced so as to maintain proper respect for the law. Offenders cannot be allowed simply to flout the law.
"We do not consider that there is at present a compelling case to change the existing system governing the imposition of fines in this country. While a number of jurisdictions in Europe operate a system of unit or day fines, we do not consider that a simple, reliable and cost-effective means of obtaining information on offenders' income currently exists in Scotland. The availability of such information is vital to the success of any such system.
"We do consider, however, that changes should be made to handling cases where an offender defaults on a fine and to cases where it is apparent that an offender has very little or no means to pay a financial penalty. We have made a number or recommendations in these respects, most significant among which is a recommendation that imprisonment as a first alternative for default on fines up to £5,000 should be abolished.
"In all such cases we consider that the offender should be made the subject of a Supervised Attendance Order (SAO), and only if he or she breaches such an Order should imprisonment be an option for the court. We further consider that the sanction for breach of an SAO needs to be stiffer than at present and we have recommended that it should be increased to up to 3 months' imprisonment.
"So far as those offenders who have very little or no income are concerned, we recommend that they should not be fined and that the courts should impose an alternative sanction, perhaps a SAO or a Community Reparation Order. Imposing a financial penalty in such cases is in our view simply setting-up the offender to fail.
"I am grateful to my colleagues on the Commission and to our Secretariat for the work that has gone into this report."
The Commission is an independent, judicially-led body which was set up by the Executive under its policy statement 'A Partnership for a Better Scotland'.
It was launched in November 2003 with the remit to review and make recommendations on:
- the use of bail and remand
- the basis on which fines are determined
- the effectiveness of sentences in reducing re-offending
- the scope to improve consistency of sentencing
- the arrangements for early release from prison and the supervision of prisoners on their release