Fines are the most useless form of punishment ever, amirite?

Fines would be more useful as a deterrent if they were of an appropriate size.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Yeah, income based fines are a way to go.

by jenniferratke 2 days ago

No, they should keep all that they can so we can "trickle economics". Matter of fact, you should be paying them... s/

by Independent_Meal_258 2 days ago

That's why I support Finland's income-based fine. I wish all countries will implement this.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

% based fines would change that. Many countries do it.

by Away_Television_1101 2 days ago

I don't think the term adultery fits here.

by gulgowskiadam 2 days ago

My bad, it was supposed to be adulteration

by jenniferratke 2 days ago

I kind of disagree. Even if you are rich, who wants to have a horrible driving record, high insurance, or a rap sheet? The fine might not effect everyone the same, but no one wants to go to court or be on probation.

by giuseppeschaden 2 days ago

And repeat fines for things like speeding can cause you to receive elevated punishment such as losing your license.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Going to court or probation comes for repeat offenders but having sizeable punishment from first crime would really bring down the crime rate.

by jenniferratke 2 days ago

How does it go... If the penalty is a fine, then it's legal for a price.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Definitely not saying letting them scot-free, just fir better form of punishment, the solutions you gave are right, that's what I think

by jenniferratke 2 days ago

Fines can become fees for the rich. Unless, of course, you make those fines representative. In some countries, they take the value of your car, and even your assets in determining the amount of the fine. That hits a little bit harder.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

If it doesnt do anything a fine isnt big enough. You can resolve road fines by taxing according to the vehicle they are driving

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Right, but for most countries including mine each violation has a fixed fine

by jenniferratke 2 days ago

No? I honestly see people who say this as dumb for mot people it absolutely sucks and can ruin what they can afford till ther enext paycheck heck even for the rich it's still annoying having to solve all of it and having to pay higher insurance your should care more about companies getting small fines

by Amazing_Plenty1335 2 days ago

You put a not that unpopular thing in a unpopular way. I think a significant amount of people agree that the rich can buy themselves free too easy. It is actually common to adjust fines based on income. Finland does it for traffic tickets and if you get sentenced by a court in Germany, they will set the fine not in Euro, but in day rates (Tagessätze). So for a specific crime you need to pay 60 day rates and how high this rate is depends on the income. Another person committing a similar crime would also get 60 day rates, but that might end up being twice the amount in Euros. And fines do work for single offenders. Even the chance of getting a speeding ticket does deter a significant portion of drivers from speeding too much. Sure, if someone is caught repeatedly maybe their license should be revoked (which it is in many places!). And maybe the balance is off sometimes between who needs a fine and who needs a different punishment, but the general concept does work.

by Additional-Maize 2 days ago

Yeah I think that fines should be proportionate! Inversely proportionate.

by Objective_Soft 2 days ago

What other form of punishment would you suggest. A version of time out? No drivers license for 2 months for a speeding ticket? That could get messy.

by Good_Fix6174 2 days ago

Car accidents are messy too. Drive safe or don't drive NOT: drive unsafe if you pay.

by Jaydonlockman 2 days ago

I gave two examples, so for traffic violations, I would say income based fines and for things like adulteration any fine wouldn't work, best is to shut down the place.

by jenniferratke 2 days ago

for an affluent individual, speeding only comes with a cost and no consequences Does law enforcement not suspend licenses and impound vehicles for excessive speeding/too many accumulated infractions where you live? Most places in North America will suspend your license for too many speeding tickets or other driving infractions. Getting pulled over for excessive speeding (30 KM over the speed limit is grounds to at least be threatened with an impound where I live) often leads to an immediate impound, possible license suspension, and a court date.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Only for people who can't afford lawyers

by Jaydonlockman 2 days ago

Either way, the true cost of the infraction is almost always significantly more than the ticketed amount.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Except that most of the people with money worked hard for that money and don't deserve to pay a higher fine simply because they are more successful. I'll agree that a fine system alone isn't ideal though because you shouldn't be able to circumvent the law with money.

by Away_Measurement_983 2 days ago

Rich people are rich for a reason - they still care about $50 here and there. They avoid stupid, unnecessary spending. You think once you become a multibillionaire you'd just start driving like an idiot? Then you're just a bad person.

by Agreeable_Anybody164 2 days ago

You think once you become a multibillionaire you actually care about $50 here and there? Jeff Bezo's pays $1000 a month in fines for his fence that violates local height regulations….

by Anonymous 2 days ago

You think he's a good person?

by Agreeable_Anybody164 2 days ago

You really don't know to what extent rich people go, there was case in my country where an underage boy was drunk driving a porsche and killed a guy, his punishment was to write an essay. Pretty sure they paid in huge to avoid consequences

by jenniferratke 2 days ago

About 8 years ago I crossed the double yellow line on the Highway bcuz I was about to miss my exit. A California Highway Patrol officer immediately pulled me over. The fine was $495 and was due a couple days before Christmas. I've never crossed double yellow lines again. Fines worked on me.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

That's because $495 was a hardship for you, if the fine had been only $5 you would have learned nothing. The same effect occurs if someone with a lot of money gets the $500 fine. It's nothing to them so they continue to drive unsafely because $500 is not a hardship to them therefore it has no effect.

by Jaydonlockman 2 days ago

Yeah they should definitely be proportional to whatever your income is

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Right, like taxes 😐

by Jaydonlockman 2 days ago

I see what you did there 😁

by Anonymous 2 days ago