• conorab@lemmy.conorab.com
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    10 months ago

    Would be nice to see fines replaced with community service in many cases. Though I feel like you would then need to ensure that those doing community service are compensated the equivalent of their wage(s) prior to conviction if community service requires you use hours otherwise used by your job. Otherwise, somebody dependent on their job effectively pays more for smaller fines due to loss of work. It would also help to prefer out-of-hours community service (weekends for example) to avoid losing hours from your job in the first place. Ideally, jail would be reserved for cases where the person is a genuine danger, rather than use it as punishment.

    • OpenStars@startrek.website
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      10 months ago

      Except then you get the boss’ son “making coffee” at daddy’s (friend’s) company as their “service”. The rich will still find a way to game the system.

      Which doesn’t mean that it’s not worth a try!:-)

      • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        San Francisco lets people pay parking fines with community service, and I believe their answer to that would be they require sign offs from preapproved organizations. (Sure, somebody somewhere could take a bribe.)

  • TakiMinase@slrpnk.net
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    10 months ago

    That’s why a percentage of income should be the fine. Like the porsche man who got a $400000 fine. Rich prick wasn’t laughing all of a sudden.

    • stoy@lemmy.zip
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      10 months ago

      Several countries use a dayfine system, we in Sweden have used dayfines since 1931, Finland since 1921, Germany since 1969, There are a few more countries using the system, but I could not quickly find any historical data about them.

      Dayfines are great and should be used globaly.

      • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        A day-fine, day fine, unit fine or structured fine is a unit of payment for a legal fine which is based on the offender’s daily personal income. It is intended as a punishment financially equivalent to incarceration for one day without salary, scaled to equal impacts on both high- and low-income offenders. An analogy may be drawn with income tax, which is also proportional to income, or even levied at higher rates for higher incomes.

        Jurisdictions employing the day-fine include Denmark (Danish: dagbøde), Estonia (Estonian: päevamäär), Finland (Finnish: päiväsakko), France (French: Jour-amende), Germany (German: Tagessatz), Sweden (Swedish: dagsbot), Switzerland, and Macao.

        Neat!

        • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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          10 months ago

          Great idea but still unfair. It is the same as a high salaried person being able to afford quitting their job and take a couple of months to look for another or go on parental leave. They can afford it because they have savings. A day fine will also hit the poorest the most, because they don’t have savings to afford paying such a fine.

          And as @brisk pointed out, wealth isn’t income

          • HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de
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            10 months ago

            Also, this would mean people with no money or income could do what they want without any consequences.

            Im also failing to understand why successful people should supposedly be charged more. It doesnt make a difference if the person who committed the crime has more or less money, so they should be charged according to the crime, not what they have.

            • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml
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              10 months ago

              Im also failing to understand why successful people should supposedly be charged more. It doesnt make a difference if the person who committed the crime has more or less money, so they should be charged according to the crime, not what they have.

              So the idea is that if something is a $10,000 fine, it will stop the average person from doing it, but it might not stop directors/owners of companies and it definitely won’t stop a company from doing it themselves.

            • rando895@lemmygrad.ml
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              10 months ago

              If you believe one is wealthier because they deserve it, through success, hardwork, etc , then shouldn’t these apparent shining examples of success also be held to a higher standard?

              Or should we somehow decide the economic cost of someone doing something illegal, then charge everyone that? For example: the risk of speeding increases quadratically (E =1/2mV^2), the higher the speed. I.e the risk of death. Do we then set a speed limit, anything above which is considered illegal. Above this level, a fine or charge is incurred based on the likelihood of a crash killing someone upto and including the cost of one’s life.

              But then it’s legal to kill someone if you are wealthy enough, and the poor are inherently the most moral group.

              Or we could flat fine it; which disproportionately punishes the poor. Which is like saying “ohh you are poor and that’s your fault, just like speeding. Get fucked lol”.

              I’m sure that there are other options but it’s a good idea to consider the potential ramifications of fees, fines, and other punishment structures, and how they influence the society we live in.

            • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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              10 months ago

              It doesnt make a difference if the person who committed the crime has more or less money

              Of course it does. A poor person might find themselves in a situation where they have to steal groceries or other necessities for pure survival. If I were poor and needed diapers and there was no governmental support program available I would also steal them. Or formula or whatever. A rich person can afford all of that. If they steal groceries it is for the thrill, not out of necessity.

              Also, note that really bad crimes (murder for example) are not fined. In that sense it does not matter what the financial status of the perpetrator is. Although filthy rich people can sometimes even buy their way out of these crimes.

              • HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de
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                10 months ago

                You have a point but what about stuff like traffic violations? Nobody NEEDS to commit one, so should these fines be the same for everyone?

                Also, following your example, person A making 75k/year and person B making 150k/year both have no necessitiy to steal groceries. Yet, if the fine was income-dependent, person B would have to pay way more.

                • deo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  10 months ago

                  if the goal of the fine is to deter people from committing a traffic violation, the person making $150k will not be equally deterred compared to the person making $75k. If the fine has too little impact, it no longer works as a deterrent. This is especially true for things like parking tickets, where you aren’t necessarily putting yourself or others in danger like you might be for speeding (though, assuming the two people only differ in their income and all other variables – like how willing they are to drive dangerously – remain equal, then the point still stands).

        • nitneroc@lemmy.one
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          10 months ago

          Didn’t know we had that in France, never heard of anyone paying a fine other than a fixed amount (and 90℅ of the time 135€)

      • saigot@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        Just out of curiosity, how does that work for foreigners, they would only be able to tell the income of citizens would they not?

        • stoy@lemmy.zip
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          10 months ago

          A valid question, I unfortunately does not have an absolute answer as I don’t know, but we can speculate…

          There are only two ways I could see this done.

          1. Ask the foreigner’s government for documentation on the subject.

          2. Ask the individual in question for proof of their income.

    • brisk@aussie.zone
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      10 months ago

      A percentage of income still isn’t equitable though.

      If you’re destitute a week’s income means you starve.

      If you’re a millionnaire a week’s income stings bit doesn’t affect much.

      If you’re a billionnaire there is a good chance you don’t technically have an income, and if you do you can lose half of your wealth without feeling it.

      • Mangoholic@lemmy.ml
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        10 months ago

        The billionaire might not feel it, but the money gained could be significant for all sorts of good things that help lift the burdon of the lower class.

      • pingveno@lemmy.ml
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        10 months ago

        This is true, but you could still have a progressive fine. Very good point with the billionaire, though. They live in a completely different world, in terms of how their wealth flow works. Still, it seems like an alternative fine system could be worked out that would hit them hard.

        • Tak@lemmy.ml
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          10 months ago

          The real solution is to remove the classes so high above everyone that the rules don’t apply. This is a difficult problem only because we’re talking about people who are so ludicrously wealthy a fine for literal hundreds of millions of dollars wouldn’t make them homeless.

          • pingveno@lemmy.ml
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            10 months ago

            I agree. John Oliver once referred to billionaires as something like a bug in the structure of the system, and I wholeheartedly agree with that analysis. Unfortunately, they’re a bug that’s not so easily dislodged. Until then, designing systems that are able to deal with their existence is the best way to deal with them.

  • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    Punitive damages shouldn’t have a cap, and should be even greater than proportional, since it’s easier for someone who is richer to live on a smaller proportion of their income.

    • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      meme /miːm/ noun

      1 an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations.

      2 an element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means.

      Yuuuuup

  • rwhitisissle@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    Sailor Moon grows up to be the queen of the moon. Possibly also the Earth, although I can’t remember. Either way, she’s no ally to the proletariat.

    • Redcuban1959 [any]@hexbear.net
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      10 months ago

      Apparently, in the end of the manga/anime/movie Sailor Moon makes everyone on the planet immortal in the future. Except for the people who live on the planet Nemesis.