Dom Post on court fines
The Justice Ministry is playing with fire.
A review of its structure obtained by The Dominion Post reveals it is contemplating rejigging its fines system to concentrate its collection efforts on those most likely to pay.
It should abandon such foolishness before it undermines public confidence in the entire justice system.
The ministry’s tentative plans for the “segmentation” of ministry debtors are contained in a document called Structure of Operations in the Ministry, Proposals for Consultation.
The document says work is under way to “focus enforcement effort where it is most effective and to avoid expensive enforcement actions which drive up the overall cost of collection without necessarily resolving the debt”. In plain English, that means letting the worst offenders get away with it.
From a business point of view, concentrating the ministry’s resources in areas where they will generate the greatest return makes eminent good sense. Offenders at present owe $790 million in fines. Almost $450m of that is overdue, a significant amount owed by habitual defaulters who have no intention of ever making good on their debts. Why squander scarce resources on hardcore offenders when others can be persuaded more easily and more cheaply to pay up?
The answer is that the Justice Ministry is not a business. It is the body charged with administering the justice system.
Public confidence in the system requires that all citizens be treated equally, both when they appear before the courts and, if they are convicted, after they have been sentenced.
If the ministry abandons, or eases up on, its attempts to recover fines from the worst offenders it will make its own job more difficult by encouraging offenders to regard the payment of fines as optional, but worse than that it will reduce respect for the law.
One can only agree.