# Fines based on offender's income? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 23, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fines-based-on-offenders-income/300813 "2005-04-23T23:11:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fines-based-on-offenders-income/300813/81 "2005-04-27T18:11:17Z")
> [@Harborwolf](#): > > I’m really not trying to be dense here, but you’ve mentioned anecdotal evidence and provided links to three cases. Not dozens. Three: the NYPD, The Jonesboro Police, and the Gilmore Police. That’s three out of how many police departments? If you want to spread that across the entire country to paint a policy picture, that’s your business. No, I found dozens in a google search. I wasn’t claiming I posted dozens. > [@GorillaMan](#): > > Errrrr, let me think of the things a traffic policeman might encounter…drug trafficking? Stolen vehicles? Drunk driving? Plenty of things with far harsher penalties than a speeding fine. But these don’t seem to cause a ‘fertile environment for bribery’, so what is so unique about an expensive speeding fine? What don’t you get about a prison sentence being different than a fine. Most people in prison don’t have the money to bribe a cop even if they wanted to. Most cops will never encounter a drug trafficker. A cop in a rich area where fines could be tens of thousands of dollars, would probably have people trying to bribe them. This problem would be exacerbated by the fact that most people don’t consider most traffic infractions that big a deal. > [@GorillaMan](#): > > Your ‘initial statement’ was in response to my pointing out that many jurisdictions rely heavily on speed cameras, and rarely use police officers to catch speeding drivers. So no, it doesn’t hold true. Wrong, I said they are in use in many cities. I think that is still true. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fines-based-on-offenders-income/300813/82 "2005-04-27T19:07:45Z")
I think it’s fair if your goal is to have the well to do obey the laws. I also think moving violations should take into account the monemtum of the vehical you are driving, as someone speeding in a Neon is not as dangerous as someone doing the same in a Hummer. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fines-based-on-offenders-income/300813/83 "2005-04-27T19:32:55Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > Most people in prison don’t have the money to bribe a cop even if they wanted to. Errrrr…aren’t we talking about bribes on the roadside, before the penalty has been handed out? In this case, what’s the difference between bribing one’s way out of a five-figure fine and bribing one’s way out of potential incarceration? Why is one a potential problem, when the other isn’t? > [@](#): > > Wrong, I said they are in use in many cities. I think that is still true. You did say that, and you still miss the point. They’re not the main method of catching speeding drivers in America. ---
**Author:** ![marky33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@marky33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marky33)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fines-based-on-offenders-income/300813/84 "2005-04-28T11:46:46Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > In this case, what’s the difference between bribing one’s way out of a five-figure fine and bribing one’s way out of potential incarceration? Why is one a potential problem, when the other isn’t? Without agreeing with **Brickbacon** on anything else, I do see his point about the temptation inherent in a decision made at the discretion of a patrolman - one that could result in a hefty fine - and one that is obviously a serious breach of the law. While smuggling drugs and speeding are both against the law, it has been pointed out many times in this thread that the driving offence is considered trivial enough to often be deserving of leniency – and also one difficult for any other law-enforcement officer to prove happened later on – thus making a bribe all the more attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Razorsharp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/53a042/32.png) [@Razorsharp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razorsharp)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fines-based-on-offenders-income/300813/85 "2005-04-28T12:13:34Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Ah, yes - the guy who said, duh, you guys is commies, believes I am using the term “think” loosely. 😃 > > Here’s a clue, Skippy - not everything you disagree with is “communism”. Right, you do use the term “think” loosely, especially when you apply it to yourself, as evidenced by the almost seven thousand examples of your mundane scribblings that you have cluttered the SDMB with. It is your ilk that will ultimately cause the loss of paid subscribers to these boards. People just ain’t gonna pay to wade through your muck? **Blowero** , you don’t posess the ability to give me a clue about anything. See, it ain’t everything I disagree with. That is one of your typical mischaracterizations. All I did was to associate the concept of basing fines on one’s income with one of the tenets of communism. Sorry that’s just the way it is, and the way you are, since you “think” that is a good idea. See ya, wouldn’t want to be ya. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fines-based-on-offenders-income/300813/86 "2005-04-28T12:34:44Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > No - it’s a single extreme example where the calculation of the fine includes a large chunk of share options. Not a routine case. Er, that **is** routine when you have to figure out the income or wealth of a person rich enough for this proposal to be meaningfully different from the existing system of simply fitting the punishment to the crime. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fines-based-on-offenders-income/300813/87 "2005-04-28T12:41:16Z")
> [@Steve MB](#): > > Er, that **is** routine when you have to figure out the income or wealth of a person rich enough for this proposal to be meaningfully different from the existing system of simply fitting the punishment to the crime. No, you’ve no evidence that it’s routine. The evidence we have is that the fines are calculated in seconds. If you’ve evidence of the Finnish courts being overwhelmed by appeals for recalculations, please let us see it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fines-based-on-offenders-income/300813.md?page=4)