§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the reasons for the failure of the unit fines system as implemented by his Department in England and Wales.
§ Mr. JackMy right hon. and learned Friend concluded that it would be right to abolish the current unit fine system on the basis of experience of its working since its implementation on 1 October 1992. He took the view that under the maximum fine levels for magistrates courts approved by Parliament in the Criminal Justice Act 1991, the mechanistic application of the rules for fixing unit fines was producing results which were anomalous and disproportionate in certain cases and that the constraints210W of a statutory scheme had unacceptably limited the discretion of magistrates to impose fines which properly reflected all the circumstances of the particular case.
§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the reasons for the success of the unit fines system as implemented in the four pilot schemes.
§ Mr. JackI would refer the hon. Member to Home Office research and planning unit paper 59, a copy of which is in the Library of the House, which described and analysed the working of the four pilot schemes.