Services
- Youth offending - sentences, orders and supervision
- Community Service Orders (CSO)
- Court reports
- Diversion from Prosecution Scheme
- Drug Treatment and Testing Orders (DTTO)
- Fines and Compensation Orders
- Probation Orders
- Risk Assessment
- Supervised Attendance Orders
- West Lothian's Criminal Justice Teams and their services
Fines and Compensation Orders
When does the court use fines or compensation orders?
The courts use a financial penalty more frequently than any other possible sentence. Most offences can be dealt with by means of a fine. However the court may decide that the case is too serious, and will then look at other sentencing options.
The size of fine to be paid will depend on a number of factors:
- the seriousness of the charge that someone is appearing on
- the maximum fine appropriate to the case (which may be set by law, and which will have been notified to the accused beforehand); and
- the offender's personal and financial circumstances.
Payments to a fine may be made by instalments, and the court decides what these instalments will be. The payments are kept by the court and passed to the government; if a person is given a Compensation Order, they will still pay the money to the court, but it will be passed on to the person in whose favout it was made. Compensation Orders should only be made in respect of "any personal injury, loss or damage caused, whether directly or indirectly, by the acts which constituted the offence".
The court may impose both a fine and a compensation order for the same case, and the Compensation Order will be dealt with first.
What happens if someone doesn't pay a fine or compensation order?
The court will want to know why the payments have not been made, and in order to do this will call the fine defaulter to a special court - the Fines Court (sometimes called the Means Court, as it considers the individual's financial means).
That court may decide to allow further time to pay, at the rate previously set, or may adjust the size of the weekly payments. The court can order deductions from benefits (at a modest level) or from wages. Should the court wish to give the person support in this, they may make them subject to a 'Fine Supervision Order', where the Criminal Justice Social Work Service is required to give the person advice and guidance upon request.
The court may want more information about the circumstances of the person, and may ask for a Fines Enquiry Report (also known as a Means Enquiry Report) from the Criminal Justice Social Work Service.
Since 1st September 2007, the right of the courts to use imprisonment for fine default has been extremely restricted. Instead, the court will use a Supervised Attendance Order, requiring them to carry out a period of unpaid work.
