Half of offenders failing to pay 'get out of court' fines

Published on Tuesday 31 March 2009 09:44

NEARLY half of the offenders in the Lothians given on-the-spot "get out of court" fines have either failed to pay the penalties or fallen into arrears.

Fiscal fines were designed to punish low-level offences, such as vandalism and breach of the peace, and reduce the backlog of court cases.

But only 56 per cent of the 4539 penalties imposed between March and December last year have been paid in full or are up-to-date with instalments.

A total of 1477 offenders have not bothered paying any of the fine while another 529 are behind in their payments.

That means only 173,000 of the 493,000 in penalties levied in Lothian and Borders during that ten-month period has been collected.

The Scottish Court Service, which collects the fines, is looking at imposing new sanctions, such as automatic deductions from bank accounts or benefits.

But critics of the fiscal fine system branded the figures "absolutely shocking" after they were revealed by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill in a parliamentary answer.

The scheme has previously come under fire amid allegations that it gives offenders a "get out of court" card, including those guilty of assaults.

Lothian Tory MSP Gavin Brown, who asked the parliamentary question, said: "Direct measures are proving to be more and more of an embarrassment for the SNP and the case against the effectiveness of them is growing by the day. Not only are we seeing criminals getting away with paltry fines for their actions, but now the Scottish Government tells me that the fines are not even being paid.

"It is pathetic that, on Mr MacAskill's watch, a paltry 173,000 out of a possible 493,000 has been collected and it is up to the Justice Secretary to tackle this and tackle it soon.

"The SNP Government needs to start sending out a clear message that they are tackling crime and not just letting the perpetrators away with a paltry fine, which in many cases aren't even being paid. These figures are absolutely shocking."

Across Scotland, only 1.3 million of the 3.7m total value of the fines has so far been collected. A total of 46 per cent of fines have been paid or are up-to-date in instalments.

But the Scottish Government contends that fiscals can now impose higher fiscal fines up to 300, new compensation payments of up to 5000 to victims and fiscal work orders. These punishments are for offences that previously might have resulted in similar fines but after lengthy court processes.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Enforcement rates are not currently as high as we would like. The Scottish Court Service is examining ways to make it easier for enforcement officers to apply sanctions such as deductions from benefits and bank account arrestment.

"Where instalments have fallen into arrears, SCS will take action to bring payment back on track.

"Under the strengthened fines enforcement regime, officers can take action earlier, without court action, because the onus is on the accused to accept or reject the fine. Doing nothing is no longer an option.

"The SCS is launching a fines enforcement campaign in April."