This report forms part of our follow-up to our research to our previous report, “Where the hell am I going to get that money from?”: The impact of court fines on people on low incomes, where we have been exploring recommendations for reform. In a companion report, we look at ways of improving the court and payment processes. In this report, we look at more radical policy reforms and the use of alternative punishments when people are unable to pay fines.
We have focused on proposing solutions more likely to result in reduced crime, greater victim satisfaction and less cost to the taxpayer, including: to increase the use of out of court resolutions; to review and reform fixed penalty notices; to enforce rail fare evasion via the civil justice system, and the decriminalisation of poverty-related offences.