Ford welcomes report on fine defaulters

Justice Minister David Ford has repeated his commitment fundamentally to reform how justice agencies deal with fine defaulters.

The Minister has welcomed today’s follow-up report by the Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland on the enforcement of fines and its support for the Department’s plan to modernise current arrangements.

The Minister also accepted that more needs to be done to address the current problem and has confirmed plans to extend the use of Supervised Activity Orders.

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David Ford said: “This report identifies the complexity surrounding the enforcement of fines and the scale of the challenge in addressing the situation.

“It is because of this complexity that the justice system must develop a new approach to deal with fine defaulters rather than the old practice of sending people to prison for a few days at a time.

“That approach places a huge administrative burden on the Prison Service, is costly to the taxpayer and can have traumatic effect on families. It’s a position that is no longer sustainable.”

The Minister confirmed that fundamental reforms to fine enforcement will be taken through the Assembly in the Faster, Fairer Justice Bill in the New Year.

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He said: “The Department has consulted on a new approach to tackle fine default and CJINI has welcomed my proposals to tackle the problem.

“This will include legislative change and I will introduce into the Assembly proposals to create a civilian enforcement system with a range of measures to tackle fine default and powers to take deductions direct from income to clear a fine.”

A fine collection and reminder scheme established by the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service has helped to prevent many people from going into default in the first place.

David Ford said: “While the increase in the numbers going to prison for fine default underlines the extent of the problem, there have been successes. The scheme run by the Courts Service has resulted in almost £3.5million in fines being collected and a 30% fewer warrants being issued to police for enforcement.

“Supervised Activity Orders, which provide a community service based alternative to going to prison for non-payment, have been piloted in Newry since the beginning of the year.”

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