Salt Lake Telegram | 1943-02-17 | Page 10 | Uncollected Court Fines

Uncollected Court Court Fines ITY JUDGE WILFORD MOYLE BURT BURTON N Nis pITY CITY is to be commended for giving g his attention to the problem of uncollected police court fines which amount at the present time to perhaps as much as The exact sum is not known because no audit has been made madeI I since last April This uncollected fine problem has plagued the city for years It is is a disgrace to Salt Lake City and it should not be tolerated any longer The large total each year year year-it it amounted to in 1941 has 1941 has been due simply to laxity in the police court There has been entirely too much leniency extended to law violators fined by the court and entirely too little effort on the part of the court to bring in violators who fail to pay fines as ordered Judge Burton we think has one solution to the problem as regards collection of future fines in his decision not to grant stays of execution for convenience of paying a fine That h has s been one of the past errors of the i police court The courts court's primary responsibility II ity is to punish law violators It isn't fulfilling its responsibility when through leniency it i permits many violators to escape punishment There is serious reason to question whether the court should concern itself over the matter of where the violator is going to get thep the p money to pay his fine That's the violators violator's I problem Naturally he will take the easy way out postponing out postponing the day of reckoning reckoning-if if that way is open to him But if that way is closed we suspect the great majority of law violators h would find a way to pay their fines rather t than go to jail I 1 As to Judge Burtons Burton's proposal that all deI delinquent delinquent de de- I fines prior to August 1 1942 be wiped l off the books we question the wisdom of such sucha i i a blanket forgiveness of debt Many of those old fines undoubtedly cannot be collected and might as well be forgotten But some at least i could be collected if the proper effort were made l While were we're on the subject of uncollected police court ourt mon money y the matter of uncollected bail bonds should not be forgotten This too has plagued the city in the past Two years li I ago an effort was made to clean up this bad badr r situation but it was not wholly successful G We would suggest that Ju Judge ge Bur Burton on might give some some study to this problem along with that of uncollected fines F At any event the judge is moving in the right fight direction We wish him success success in his program and trust that he will have nave the fullest support of city authorities and the police department in his efforts i