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Jack Straw applauds Sussex courts (From The Argus)
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Jack Straw applauds Sussex courts
2:17pm Sunday 15th November 2009
Justice Secretary Jack Straw claims courts in Sussex provide a good example for the rest of the country.
Magistrates demanded that convicted offenders paid at least half their fine before leaving the court.
Mr Straw called on JPs across England and Wales to adopt similar measures.
He told the Magistrates Association: "The longer a fine goes unpaid, the greater the risk of default."
Unpaid fines across England and Wales totalled £545m last year, according to Government figures.
Mr Straw said: "In Surrey and Sussex, the bench demands payment forthwith from all sentenced in person and the court takes receipt of 50% there and then.
"But my own discussions with magistrates suggest that this is not the case in many courts at present.
"We need to be more aggressive about this, to maintain confidence in the justice system and because, if a fine is not paid on the day of sentencing, costs are incurred in seeking payment."
He said unpaid fines left courts with the "bureaucratic absurdity" of the cost of collecting a fine being higher than the fine itself.
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Your Say YourArgus
The Phantom, Burgess Hill says...
3:17pm Sun 15 Nov 09
jay316, Brighton says...
3:49pm Sun 15 Nov 09
Fines, I totally agree with the courts down here, 50% before you leave.. trouble is many people in court, can't afford to pay the fine, that is probably why they have stolen stuff in the first place..
Just another Taxpayer, Hove says...
8:35pm Sun 15 Nov 09
Labour "Tough on Crime, Tough on the causes of Crime" MY ARSE
greeg, glasgow says...
10:22pm Sun 15 Nov 09
jay316 wrote:Used to be in Glasgow that you had to pay the bail before release.No pay,no release.If you didn't appear for the trial,the bail money was confiscated.I stand to be corrected,but i'm sure this is still the case.If it isn't,it should be,nationally.
Same as bail.. people shouldn't be give bail unless they pay a bond.. many people on bail never get to court as they disappear. Fines, I totally agree with the courts down here, 50% before you leave.. trouble is many people in court, can't afford to pay the fine, that is probably why they have stolen stuff in the first place..
Voice of Unreason, B&H says...
10:26am Mon 16 Nov 09
Bail is given far too easily these days, but that's simply because the prisons are so overcrowded.
We need to build more prisons, but you won't hear labour or the tories saying that.
Darling2, brighton village says...
10:56am Mon 16 Nov 09
Has he started prosecuting Hazel Blears for Tax Fraud and theft of public monies yet? No? Well there's a suprise.
Jack Straw is a scrote.
-Rob-, Brighton says...
2:08pm Mon 16 Nov 09
NOTE TO READERS: Scrote is obviously not picked up by the rude word blocker. Please use freely.
Billys back, Brighton says...
9:43pm Tue 17 Nov 09
Voice of Unreason wrote:
In England, bail means nothing. It just means that you are free to disappear and escape justice, if you are so minded to do. Bail is given far too easily these days, but that's simply because the prisons are so overcrowded. We need to build more prisons, but you won't hear labour or the tories saying that.
To be fair to the Tories during the last recession I think they did build more prisons....didn't they have a floating prison brought in from the USA for a while near Southampton while they built more spaces?
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Granny, Brighton says...
2:41pm Sun 15 Nov 09