Fixed-penalty fines may encourage criminality, JP warns MSPs
Fixed penalties are failing to deliver justice and in some cases can encourage more criminality, a Holyrood committee has heard.
Fixed penalties are failing to deliver justice and in some cases can encourage more criminality, a Holyrood committee has heard.
Sam McEwan, a Justice of the Peace (JP) serving in Inverclyde within the Sheriffdom of North Strathclyde, criticised the rising use of fixed-penalty fines and other non-court imposed sentences as he gave evidence to the Justice Committee's inquiry into the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
The police have powers to issue on-the-spot fines for a variety of minor offences in Scotland.
But Mr McEwan said the fines do not reduce re-offending, and stop vulnerable people from accessing support services through the courts.
He also told MSPs that figures quoted by senior figures including the Lord Advocate on the use of fixed penalties are a decade out of date.
“It is a seriously flawed notion that justice is served by fixed penalties,” he told the committee.
Mr McEwan, a JP for 25 years, gave the example of an alcoholic caught drinking in a public place by police and hit with £475 of fines within 30 minutes.
“If you have not got any money, fining you £100 is not going to do any good because you are not going to pay it,” he said.
“You don't have the money to pay it, you don't have the lifestyle that would motivate you to pay it, because you are too busy trying to perhaps get your fix for that particular day.
“And all a fixed penalty does is encourage you to go out and steal more money. They encourage criminality in a lot of cases.
“There can be places for them, but it needs a careful judgment to be made.”
He said the Lord Advocate had recently quoted figures for fixed penalties which he considered to be “way low”.
“He was talking about something like 9,000 to date fixed penalties that had ended up in court,” Mr McEwan said.
“The figures that are being bandied around by Sheriff Principals and the Lord Advocate, given to them by their officials, date from 2006 to 2007.
“So the Lord Advocate and others were placed in a position where they were trying to argue a case with statistics that are 10 years old.
“I think it is very important people get out of their silos, stop being defensive, and let's try to offer a justice system that works for everyone.”
Mr McEwan appeared before the committee alongside JP John Little, who attended after the Scottish Justices Association, which represents JPs in Scotland, pulled out.
Commitee convener Margaret Mitchell said: “The witness whom Mr Little was replacing was due to speak on behalf of the Scottish Justices Association but I should make sure for the record that Mr Little will be giving evidence today in a personal capacity as a serving JP.”
It comes as the office of the Lord President, Lord Carloway, wrote to the committee to advise he cannot make any contribution to the inquiry beyond the submission from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.
The letter states Lord Carloway felt it would not be “constitutionally appropriate for a serving judge or sheriff to meet with members of the committee”.