Editorial: Rethink needed on fines

The total amount of fines owed to Tauranga District Court as at June 2015 is $19.5 million.

Court fines seem to be a waste of time in many instances.

In yesterday's Bay of Plenty Times we reported almost $13million worth of court fines imposed by Tauranga District Court were wiped in the last five years.

Nationally $266.7million in fines have been remitted since 2011.

That's a huge amount of money.

Ministry of Justice general manager of collections Jacquelyn Shannon said sometimes remitting a fine was the most appropriate action; for example, if a person died, a company was in liquidation or to remit small outstanding balances under $5. If enforcement action had been undertaken and was unsuccessful, fines could be remitted and substituted for an alternative sentence of community work, community detention, home detention or imprisonment. A judge or registrar may also choose to remit penalties added to a fine to encourage payment of the original fine.

I can see the logic in that. People should not be let off scot-free and if they are never going to pay the fine another punishment is only fair.

It does, however, make it seem that fines are often a waste of time.

I'm not talking about speeding tickets or library fines - they can be an effective way to dissuade people from speeding or returning books months late.

I'm talking about fines imposed by the court.

More consideration needs to be given to who has a fine imposed rather than some other sentence. It is often clear from the outset when someone is not going to pay a fine.

Read our article here: Offenders avoid paying $13m in fines

The financial situation of each person needs to be carefully considered and if there is any inkling they may not pay up, another sentence should be imposed.

Surely community work is just as effective and there is generally no excuse for repeatedly not showing up. Even those working fulltime should be able to find time to slot it in, be it weekends or evenings.

Chasing up those who have not paid their fines and continually refuse to do so costs the taxpayer. It requires time by court staff and debt collectors and even then can be fruitless.

Maybe we need to consider reverting to community service as the penalty for most minor offences rather than fines.