Is a ticket or fine a fair form of punishment?
Yes
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No
Side Score: 9
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No a ticket or a fine is not a fair form of punishment. Fines disproportionately burden the poor and middle class. A ticket for $150 would be over 15 hours of labor for someone working minimum wage; but could be less than an hour or two worth of labor for someone with a better paying job. How can it be fair to take 15 hours worth of labor from one person and an hours worth of labor from another person. The ideas of tickets and fines are to prevent people from doing said behavior. If someone can break a law and get a fine that feels like a slap on a wrist to them it is not deterring the behavior. If someone else breaks the same law and is fined such a huge portion of their paycheck that they have to starve for the next month not only is it not fair it is cruel and unusual. No one makes the same amount of money therefore a fine is an unfair punishment to the poor and almost a non-existent form of punishment to the rich. If the person had to volunteer an hour of community service the punishment would be the same for the rich person and the poor person. Side: No
I haven't every really thought about fines from that perspective, but you've got me sold, community service would be a far better punishment, not to mention having a potentially positive effect on the community. The flaw, of course, is that you could never realistically assign everyone who gets a fine to community service, it would just be a logistical nightmare, not to mention that fines are a great source of revenue for the police. Perhaps if you could tie the amount of the fine to the income level of the offender, that would probably be fair . . . not saying that would be any less of a logistical nightmare. Side: No
I agree with your argument over fixed penalties where the amount is constant. In principle when a court decides to fine you your financial position is considered and a proportion is taken. I had to submit my details to the courts for a speeding fine, and they made sure it was a fair amount. However even in these cases the amounts chosen are not proportionate, the government imposes guideline fines, hence: I earn £20K a year, and got fined £360, Cristiano Ronaldo (fuggin footballer) earns £140K a week and got fined £500. The guidelines for fines should be percentages not a fixed range. Side: No
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