Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman Chris Huhne has uncovered the figures through a Parliamentary Question:
In 2007, the last year for which figures are available, the average fine for criminals convicted of possessing crack cocaine was £38.33 – less than a standard £60 parking fine or speeding ticket, and less than a quarter of the average fine in 1997, which was £180. Over the same ten year period, fines for possession of heroin have more than halved, to just £65.83. Fines for cocaine possession also fell, from £624.50 to £326.05, although those for offenders caught with ecstasy increased, from £209.33 to £678.57. (Telegraph)
Chris Huhne said,
Heroin and crack cocaine destroy lives and fines smaller than a parking ticket are no deterrent. Fining addicts can boomerang because crime is often their primary source of income, and more fines may mean more crime.
Instead of fines, we need to treat addicts focusing on community sentences and treatment orders that are regularly reviewed to ensure that they reform.
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7 Comments
So first we say the fines are too low, and then Huhne says we’d get rid of the fines altogether? Is it too much to ask for a coherant, consistent liberal line on drugs from our Shadow Home Secretary?
This does not make any sense. The fines are smaller than a parking ticket and hence no deterrent BUT it is therefore better to have no fines?!?
I hope the Lib Dem policy (whatever it is – impossible to tell from this article) is better explained in any manifesto.
I read this as Chris firstly demonstrating that the current approach is pointless I.e. If the ffines are that low they will have no effect, and that a different approach would be better anyway.
3,172 people were killed on the roads in 2006.
191 people died while using cocaine (of all kinds) in 2006.
A clear case of evidence-based policy making.
The fact that Crack and Smack fines are so low when Ecstasy fines have rocketed is abhorrent. I suppose it speaks of the general financial situation of those taking the drugs, but still, this government have clearly lost the plot on drugs.
But £38.33 is not to be sniffed at.
I was pleased to see that Chris is advocating a different policy to using fines.
I think the judgements made on Chris here are a little unfair as he is only given 2 paragraghs to make his case.
Comparing road accident statistics with crack cocaine is also rather unfair. The government is doing a lot to try and cut down road traffic accidents – maybe it could do more – but it is still a priority.
As for crack cocaine, mortality rates only tell part of the story. Associated with it are other crimes and so this should also be a priority.