Parking violation ticket on car windscreen

Background

In Western Australia, when a person is unable or refuses to pay a fine issued by the courts, further penalties can be applied, such as suspension of driver’s licences, additional enforcement costs, and community service/work and development orders. If the person fails to pay or clear a fine either by means of a payment plan …

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A judges gavel sitting on top of spread out Australian dollars

Conclusion

The imprisonment of fine defaulters in Western Australian prisons has been a contentious issue for some time. Debates have centred around the number of defaulters in prison, their impact on an already-crowded prison system, the cost of short terms of imprisonment for fine default, and whether the state is too quick to imprison fine defaulters …

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Image of a fixed penalty notice

Key Findings

A total of 54,839 days were served by 7,025 people as part of fine default-only receptions; these people had a total of 7,462 prison receptions between them. Hakea and Bandyup are by far the most heavily burdened by fine default receptions, with Hakea receptions accounting for almost half of the total amount of days served …

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