Criminals fail to pay up their court fines

Aug 7 2008 by Kim Carmichael, The Journal

NORTH East criminals owe the courts a staggering £23m in unpaid fines, The Journal can reveal.

Figures obtained by the paper last night revealed the total had gone up more than £1m over the past year to reach the new record high.

And the figure now owed by criminals would be enough to pay for more than 1,000 nurses or 19 new pieces of cancer treatment equipment.

The Government said collecting fines was a priority and claimed using new technology – including texting non-payers – was starting to bear fruit.

But campaigners insisted the system had failed and called on ministers to look for an alternative.

The highest total in the North East last year was recorded by courts in the area covered by Northumbria Police, where nearly £11.5m remains uncollected, up nearly £1m.

Other figures revealed almost £3m owed in Durham and just over £3m in Cumbria. The near-£6m owed in Cleveland is actually nearly £400,000 down on last year. A former senior officer in Durham called for tougher action to force criminals to cough up. Lord Brian Mackenzie, a former chief superintendent, said: “Clearly we need to examine the process for collecting unpaid fines and make sure those people are brought back before the courts if they are refusing to pay them.

“If they think they are going to get away with it, then obviously they will continue their criminality.”

But Nacro, the crime reduction charity which works to find practical solutions to reducing crime, said fining offenders who could not afford to pay was not the answer.

A spokeswoman said: “With so much money outstanding, it is clear that something is not working. Perhaps the money could be better spent on education programmes.” The Government last night claimed success in some parts of the country in cutting the national figure, which still stands at more than £500m.

But the National Debtline Service said criminals were also feeling the pinch of the economic slowdown, with a 35% rise in calls about fines.

A spokesman for Her Majesty’s Courts Service said: “The Government takes the issue of fine enforcement very seriously and HM Courts Service is working to ensure clamping down on fine dodgers is a continued priority nationwide.”

Nationally, London had the highest outstanding court fines at £117m, with the second highest figure being in the West Midlands with £39.9m.

But despite the rising figures in fines, the Magistrates’ Association denied courts were under pressure because of a lack of space in prisons.

A spokeswoman said: “Magistrates have to sentence according to the sentencing guidelines, it has nothing to do with the prisons.”

Mark Wallace, from campaign group the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “If the Government and the criminal justice system really believes that these fines are a worthwhile punishment, then they have got to enforce them.

“If not, then they have to accept how pointless the current system makes the law look.”

What you could get for £23m

:: 1,150 new nurses or the same number of teachers;

:: 1,068 more police officers on the beat;

:: 19 new cancer treatment machines for the Freeman Hospital;

:: 20 MRI scanners.

To see how your region compares with the rest of the country, click here to see the full table