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Legal punishments are set (in theory at least) according to what society feels a particular crime is worth, without regard for the status of the offender. Thus, premeditated murder carries a sentence of life imprisonment while jaywalking carries a minor fine. And so, both a millionaire and a pauper should get a life sentence for premeditated murder and a minor fine for jaywalking.
Adjusting the punishment according to the financial capacity of the offender is, IMO, no different than adjusting the term of imprisonment based on how much being imprisoned would affect the offender. If you have two people who commit the same crime, should the one with family and friends who is a key player at his job and active in his community, and thus would have "everything to lose" by being confined, be jailed longer than the other who is a homeless bum with no friends and family, who wouldn't be seriously inconvenienced and may even benefit by being locked up?
Besides . . . the OP's idea does serious violence to the concept of "equal justice under law."
Prison terms are not adjusted for age and fines should not be adjusted for income. The penalty reflects the severity of the offense and has nothing to do with the personal attributes of the offender.
They also want to adjust prices for things for income. If you make x and I make 2x, I pay twice as much for everything as you do.
No, of course not everything. No one is suggesting anything other than that fines should hurt at least a little bit -- otherwise, what't the point of having them, except to create revenue. The main purpose of fines or any kind of punishment, I think, should be to try to dissuade people from doing wrong.
If it scaled, traffic enforcement would go after people they thought were "rich." And that would be discriminatory. If they could pull over a whale worth $100,000 vs a normal Joe worth only $100, they'd meet their quota for the year in one shot.
Yep. They’d be pulling over BMW drivers and ignoring the Versa drivers even if they were speeding.
Yep. They’d be pulling over BMW drivers and ignoring the Versa drivers even if they were speeding.
Hmmmm....they go after whoever they want, including the whole "driving while black" phenomenon. Cops always have prejudices - some more explicit than others.
Shouldn't cops be "policed" themselves so that they follow the set guidelines rather than we set the law up to help THEM police correctly/fairly? They're supposed to be professional in how they do their job - the people set the laws and THEY only enforce them. We tell them how to enforce.
Hmmmm....they go after whoever they want, including the whole "driving while black" phenomenon. Cops always have prejudices - some more explicit than others.
Shouldn't cops be "policed" themselves so that they follow the set guidelines rather than we set the law up to help THEM police correctly/fairly? They're supposed to be professional in how they do their job - the people set the laws and THEY only enforce them. We tell them how to enforce.
In magic rainbow unicorn land, cops apply the law fairly and evenly. IRL, revenue from tickets is important to cities and states and cops are told to meet ticket quotas in terms of that revenue. If pulling over nicer cars gets them to that quota quicker, that's what they will do.
In a world with ticket fines set by income, if a cop sees a shiny new Land Rover doing 8 miles over the limit and a 15 year old Honda doing 15 over the limit, who gets pulled over? The one who poses the greatest threat to public safety or the one with the deepest pockets? Pretty sure we all know the answer to that one.
Prison terms are not adjusted for age and fines should not be adjusted for income. The penalty reflects the severity of the offense and has nothing to do with the personal attributes of the offender.
Yep, the statue of liberty wears a blindfold for a reason.
In magic rainbow unicorn land, cops apply the law fairly and evenly. IRL, revenue from tickets is important to cities and states and cops are told to meet ticket quotas in terms of that revenue. If pulling over nicer cars gets them to that quota quicker, that's what they will do.
In a world with ticket fines set by income, if a cop sees a shiny new Land Rover doing 8 miles over the limit and a 15 year old Honda doing 15 over the limit, who gets pulled over? The one who poses the greatest threat to public safety or the one with the deepest pockets? Pretty sure we all know the answer to that one.
When traffic cops are told they have to make quota? Yeah we do.
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