Criminals are choosing jail time over paying fines, warn MPs
CRIMINALS are choosing to serve longer prison sentences rather than pay fines associated with their crime, MPs have discovered.
A new report details the lengths some criminals go to in order to avoid getting hit with so-called confiscation orders – where assets gained through crime are seized by the government.
“Crime should not pay, but we found too many criminals who are subject to an order to confiscate the proceeds of crime choosing to spend extra time in prison rather than paying up,” Margaret Hodge, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, warned today.
Hodge added that in 2012-13 the authorities collected just 26p in every £100 of assets gained through crime. And 90 per cent of these orders were for assets worth under £1,000.