NCJ Number
149528
Date Published
1992
Length
60 pages
Annotation
Directed to sentencers, other court personnel, and other criminal justice professionals, this volume describes the goals and operations of the unit fine system that will begin in England and Wales in 1992.
Abstract
Currently, fines are used in approximately 85 percent of all criminal cases in which a defendant has either pleaded guilty or been found guilty. The overwhelming majority of fines are imposed in magistrates' courts by the 28,000 magistrates, together with a small number of full- time stipendiary magistrates. By linking fines to units of disposable income, the unit fine system is probably the greatest single effort to make sentencing evenhanded for many centuries. This manual explains the requirements of the law, the method for fixing the number of units, minimum and maximum values, methods of calculating disposable weekly income, fine remissions, defaults, and the use of forms. Case examples and forms