Speeding drivers face victim levy
Discussion
From BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3390315.stm
drivers face victim levy
Motorists convicted of speeding may have to pay compensation for victims, the government has proposed.
The plan, published on Monday, is one of several changes to the funding of victim support services.
Motorists given a prison term or suspended sentence would pay £30 to a Home Office fund providing victim and witness compensation and support.
Those fined for speeding or driving without insurance would face a levy of £5 or £10.
Publishing the consultation paper, Home Secretary David Blunkett said: "The effect of crime on the lives of its victims can be devastating.
"A lump sum of compensation alone does not repair this damage, and the current scheme does not enable us to provide the wide range of support needed."
He said a victims fund would put more money into services such as practical support, information to victims of rape and sexual offences, road traffic accident victims and those who have been bereaved as a result of crime.
Parking fines would be exempt from the new levy.
Other on-the-spot fines, such as being drunk in public or making a hoax 999 call, would also carry the extra charge.
The surcharges would raise £28m a year if they were all collected, but with an expected enforcement rate of 60% they would bring in just under £17m, the Home Office paper said.
'Victimless crimes'
Most of the proposals apply in England and Wales only.
Mark Leech, editor of the Prisons Handbook, said: "It is for the state to provide for victims of crime rather than to impose levies on people who commit speeding offences and so on - these are victimless crimes.
"It simply isn't fair and it isn't right."
He said the scheme would not work in practice.
"Increasing the financial burden on offenders isn't the answer because many of them get into crime in the first place because they have no money."
Anthony Forsyth of Victim Support said that while the charity supported moves to improve services it was "uncomfortable" with the use of income from fines.
"Our position has always been that services for victims should come out of core [government] funding," he said.
"We are uncomfortable with the idea of linking this extra income with these sorts of minor offences."
Hot spots
Schemes likely to be paid for by the new victims fund would include a national telephone helpline for sex crime victims, better services for ethnic minority victims, children who have been targeted by crime, and bereaved victims, the consultation paper said.
It could also target people in crime hot spots where victim support services need boosting.
Under the plans, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority would also be given greater powers to recover from offenders money it had paid out to victims.
Also under the proposal, the drinks industry could be asked to contribute towards the cost of compensation because of the large number of alcohol-related violent incidents.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3390315.stm
drivers face victim levy
Motorists convicted of speeding may have to pay compensation for victims, the government has proposed.
The plan, published on Monday, is one of several changes to the funding of victim support services.
Motorists given a prison term or suspended sentence would pay £30 to a Home Office fund providing victim and witness compensation and support.
Those fined for speeding or driving without insurance would face a levy of £5 or £10.
Publishing the consultation paper, Home Secretary David Blunkett said: "The effect of crime on the lives of its victims can be devastating.
"A lump sum of compensation alone does not repair this damage, and the current scheme does not enable us to provide the wide range of support needed."
He said a victims fund would put more money into services such as practical support, information to victims of rape and sexual offences, road traffic accident victims and those who have been bereaved as a result of crime.
Parking fines would be exempt from the new levy.
Other on-the-spot fines, such as being drunk in public or making a hoax 999 call, would also carry the extra charge.
The surcharges would raise £28m a year if they were all collected, but with an expected enforcement rate of 60% they would bring in just under £17m, the Home Office paper said.
'Victimless crimes'
Most of the proposals apply in England and Wales only.
Mark Leech, editor of the Prisons Handbook, said: "It is for the state to provide for victims of crime rather than to impose levies on people who commit speeding offences and so on - these are victimless crimes.
"It simply isn't fair and it isn't right."
He said the scheme would not work in practice.
"Increasing the financial burden on offenders isn't the answer because many of them get into crime in the first place because they have no money."
Anthony Forsyth of Victim Support said that while the charity supported moves to improve services it was "uncomfortable" with the use of income from fines.
"Our position has always been that services for victims should come out of core [government] funding," he said.
"We are uncomfortable with the idea of linking this extra income with these sorts of minor offences."
Hot spots
Schemes likely to be paid for by the new victims fund would include a national telephone helpline for sex crime victims, better services for ethnic minority victims, children who have been targeted by crime, and bereaved victims, the consultation paper said.
It could also target people in crime hot spots where victim support services need boosting.
Under the plans, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority would also be given greater powers to recover from offenders money it had paid out to victims.
Also under the proposal, the drinks industry could be asked to contribute towards the cost of compensation because of the large number of alcohol-related violent incidents.
I don't understand why they don't fine the criminals that actually create the victims in the first place.
Probably wouldnt work because everyone has given up catching real criminals, infact I hear they are sometimes rewarded with a holiday - which is no doubt another cause for this "levy".
Much easier to sting everyone for trying to get somewhere in a car, which we are forced to do since they bleed all the cash out of OUR public transport system.
>> Edited by knowley on Monday 12th January 18:26
Probably wouldnt work because everyone has given up catching real criminals, infact I hear they are sometimes rewarded with a holiday - which is no doubt another cause for this "levy".
Much easier to sting everyone for trying to get somewhere in a car, which we are forced to do since they bleed all the cash out of OUR public transport system.
>> Edited by knowley on Monday 12th January 18:26
I may be dumb here but if as is said all speeding offences are criminal matters hence the levey, are all convicted speeders now disbarred from Jury service? If so who will be the juries of the future? Regardless of wheter victims of crime should get financial payments from the state ( I would prefer it to come from the person who commited it) this is just a shamless piece of polotics. This comes on the same day they propose to re jig the council tax so the one person in Barnsley with a terraced house worth £2000 will have a new low band everyone else will pay more.
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