Part I Powers of Courts to Deal with Offenders
Crown Court fines, etc.
31 Powers, etc., of Crown Court in relation to fines and forfeited recognizances.
(1)
Subject to the provisions of this section, if the Crown Court imposes a fine on any person or forfeits his recognizance, the court may make an order—
(a)
allowing time for the payment of the amount of the fine or the amount due under the recognizance;
(b)
directing payment of that amount by instalments of such amounts and on such dates respectively as may be specified in the order;
(c)
in the case of a recognizance, discharging the recognizance or reducing the amount due thereunder.
F1(2)
Subject to the provisions of this section, if the Crown Court imposes a fine on any person or forfeits his recognizance, the court shall make an order fixing a term of imprisonment or of detention under section 9 of the Criminal Justice Act 1982 (detention of persons aged 17 to 20 for default) which he is to undergo if any sum which he is liable to pay is not duly paid or recovered.
(3)
No person shall on the occasion when a fine is imposed on him or his recognizance is forfeited by the Crown Court be committed to prison or detained in pursuance of an order under subsection (2) above unless—
(a)
in the case of an offence punishable with imprisonment, he appears to the court to have sufficient means to pay the sum forthwith;
(b)
it appears to the court that he is unlikely to remain long enough at a place of abode in the United Kingdom to enable payment of the sum to be enforced by other methods; or
(c)
on the occasion when the order is made the court sentences him to immediate imprisonment, custody for life, youth custody or detention in a detention centre for that or another offence, or sentences him as aforesaid for an offence in addition to forfeiting his recognizance, or he is already serving a sentence of custody for life or a term—
(i)
of imprisonment;
(ii)
of youth custody;
(iii)
of detention in a detention centre; or
(iv)
of detention under section 9 of the Criminal Justice Act 1982.
(3A)
F2. . .the periods set out in the second column of the following Table shall be the maximum periods of imprisonment or detention under subsection (2) above applicable respectively to the amounts set out opposite thereto.
F4An amount not exceeding £200 | F47 days |
F4 An amount exceeding £200 but not exceeding £ 500 | F414 days |
F4An amount exceeding £500 but not exceeding £1000 | F428 days |
F4An amount exceeding £1000 but not exceeding £2,500 | F445 days |
F4An amount exceeding £2,500 but not exceeding £5,000 | F43 months |
An amount exceeding £2,000 but not exceeding £5,000 | 3 months |
An amount exceeding £5,000 but not exceeding £10,000 | 6 months |
An amount exceeding £10,000 but not exceeding £20,000 | 12 months |
An amount exceeding £20,000 but not exceeding £50,000 | 18 months |
An amount exceeding £50,000 but not exceeding £100,000 | 2 years |
An amount exceeding £100,000 but not exceeding £250,000 | 3 years |
An amount exceeding £250,000 but not exceeding £1 million | 5 years |
An amount exceeding £1 million | 10 years |
F5(3B)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
F5(3C)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(4)
Where any person liable for the payment of a fine or a sum due under a recognizance to which this section applies is sentenced by the court to, or is serving or otherwise liable to serve, a term of imprisonment of youth custody or a term of detention under section F6. . . 9 of the Criminal Justice Act 1982, the court may order that any term of imprisonment or detention fixed under subsection (2) above shall not begin to run until after the end of the first-mentioned term.
(5)
The power conferred by this section to discharge a recognizance or reduce the amount due thereunder shall be in addition to the powers conferred by any other Act relating to the discharge, cancellation, mitigation or reduction of recognizances or sums forfeited thereunder.
(6)
F9(7)
Any term fixed under subsection (2) above as respects a fine imposed in pursuance of such an enactment, that is to say a fine which the magistrates’ court could have imposed, shall not exceed the period applicable to that fine (if imposed by the magistrates’ court) under section 149(1) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.
(8)
This section shall not apply to a fine imposed by the Crown Court on appeal against a decision of a magistrates’ court, but subsections F10(2) to (3A) above shall apply in relation to a fine imposed or recognizance forfeited by the criminal division of the Court of Appeal, or by the House of Lords from that division, as they apply in relation to a fine imposed or recognizance forfeited by the Crown Court, and references to the Crown Court in subsections (2) and (3) above shall be construed accordingly.