Money and Justice

I feel very uneasy with the regularity with which we use the idea of money as a proxy for all reward and punishment. I much rather systems that provide more tangible, direct consequences. Ultimately money has no intrinsic value - it is purely a means to an end (i.e. to buy something else you need). Taking money out of the equation means that the gains are far more straight-forward.

However, I am certainly not against money per se. It is an incredibly useful system that in fact forms one of the major foundations upon which civilisation has been built. Without money and the universal value of goods and services, long-distance trade is near impossible. As a society and civilisation we owe a lot to money.

Nevertheless, I do believe there is a case to be made in highlighting an over-reliance on money, to the point where real value is lost.

As you may have guessed from the title, this thought process led me to thinking about the fundamentals of our justice system (good segue!). It's no real shock to highlight the illogical connection between money and justice.

Our legal system is supposedly based on ideals of fairness. Yet, there are of course many other factors in determining the success in any case - many of which can be greatly improved by having a baJILLion dollars! Rich people can afford better lawyers, they can pay higher fines and (with enough money) they can even bribe the judge...These may not all be strictly legal, but they are certainly possible.

I don't see it as my place to comment on the more criminal solutions to legal problems as I'm sure condemnation is unnecessary, but I do wonder about the other two - particularly the idea of fines and legal payments in general.

My first thought was to question what the purpose of fines actually is. There are three major reasons I can see for fines being useful. On the more pragmatic side the money can be used to repair any damage caused by the original offence and cover any legal fees. There's also the fact that fines can be a significant deterrent to those who wish to commit crimes and finally, the fine can serve as punishment to those who commit the crime.

It's in these last two that I see a real problem. Assuming the fine for a crime is flat, surely someone with more money is simply less affected than others with less. I can't imagine a £50 fine being anything less than a slap on the wrists for someone with enough money to pay. Upping the fine only exaggerates the effects. For say a £50,000 fine it might mean bankruptcy to some and pocket change to others.

It is perhaps inappropriate to apply the principles used in one's personal life to such a large scale problem, but on the rare occasion when I have to lay the smackdown, I would almost always tailor the punishment to both fit the 'crime' and the individual. A mismatch between the two can often lead to suboptimal smackdownage and increased reoffending rates.

Forgive me for taking the analogy so far, but I do feel unconvinced that the principles driving the use of fines are best fulfilled by flat rates. The punishment for the same crime can be arbitrary and miniscule for some and life-changing for others.

The idea that subsequently popped into my head was 'means-tested fines'. Ok, so I'm not totally serious about this idea, but it does strike me as interesting. Even more so because I've heard no mention of anything similar. If fines were 'means-tested' they would be adjusted to be more in-line with a proportion of income/assets rather than fixed values. The punishment would be in line with the amount of difficulty it causes for the perpetrator.

I see several problems with this idea. It relies on accurately calculating the income of the defendant in any civil/criminal case. This would most likely be costly, lengthy and widely open to loophole abuse. The very people the change is meant to target would also be best equipped to evade excess payment.

Nevertheless, on a more theoretical level, it seems to make a lot more sense. It would certainly feel more 'fair' to pay proportional to your income.


ADDENDUM:

Just to illustrate what kind of poorly researched toss I write, here are two articles illustrating the existence of the principle in Finland and also previous proposals to have it introduced here. I'm not sure whether it ever was implemented, but the Telegraph complained about it (no surprises there).