Quote:The fines could be $10,000 that's not the point. I don't care what the fines are my point is the existence of them isn't an issue.


Once a convicted criminal has defaulted on their court ordered fine, restitution, or sentence they have involuntarily entered a new contract. Just like if you default on your capital one credit card and it's sent to ANC collections you've now entered a new involuntary contract. All collection agencies have ridiculous fines and charges.


I'm not defending the fines the company or the implementation I'm pointing out a defaulted account has two options, sent for collections or written off. In the case of a public fine we the law abiding tax payers are footing the bill for collections and write offs of the dead beats not paying their fines for breaking the law. So subcontracting a for profit company to handle the non paid fines releases the public from funding their irresponsibility.

 

$100,000 or $1,000,000 is OK too? Simple because they don't want to foot the bill and turn over the rights to a private company? Yeah, I don't see how that wont be abused at all.

 

Besides, the point is that the maximum fine for a first offense of shoplifting is $1,000--by law. Are you saying that it's OK to exceed that amount? Private company or not, they should be under the same guidelines.

 

Your last point is idealistic but unrealistic. How much money do you think they spend "footing the bill"? The cost of the time spent arresting him and housing him. 

 

I don't imagine there are many people here that are more likely to want offenders to pay their dues than I am, but this program is careless and doesn't look out for the interests of those in it (or the taxpayer). It doesn't appear to follow the same laws that the government is required to follow. You could also find yourself a local Sheriff, Mayor, Councilman, etc. owning this company and pushing for higher arrests/citations numbers too. Aside from their obvious efforts to supersede the law that they're supposedly using to punish offenders, the potential abuse for this program should be enough for someone like you. I feel like your desire to have everything "private sector" is clouding your judgement here. 

---