Enforcement, extension, and entanglement: Punishing non-payment of financial penalties in Scotland

Cullen, Amy (2025) Enforcement, extension, and entanglement: Punishing non-payment of financial penalties in Scotland. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Taking the neglect of fines and financial penalties within contemporary criminological research as its starting point, this thesis examines fines enforcement as a distinct part of financial punishment processes in contemporary Scottish criminal legal practice. Using empirical evidence from 9 qualitative interviews with practitioners working in community justice in Scotland, this study offers evidence of the processes, practices, and outcomes of fines enforcement action.

The findings indicate that, for those who cannot pay, fines enforcement can involve an extended entanglement with the criminal legal system that can produce significant barriers to progress for those subject to fines enforcement action and/or living with unpaid financial penalties. Contextualising these findings within 40 years of policy and practice developments in Scotland, this thesis demonstrates how different and conflicting principles concerning the nature and purpose of non-custodial alternatives in Scotland have produced a fractured subfield where fines enforcement appears to undermine the goals of community justice.

This project contributes to a wider international resurgence in critical criminological research concerning of fines, financial penalties, and financial punishment, providing an upto-date account of practice in Scotland and demonstrating how findings can be used to inform theorisation about the role of fines enforcement in contemporary legal systems – especially in systems where decarceration and progressive alternatives are promoted as central and formative principles of criminal legal practice.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General); H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions; K Law > K Law (General); K Law > KD England and Wales > KDC Scotland
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences
• Funder's Name: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
• Supervisor's Name: Batchelor, Dr. Susan and Malloch, Professor Margaret
• Date of Award: 2025
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2025-84895
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 14 Feb 2025 16:18
• Last Modified: 14 Feb 2025 16:23
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.84895
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/84895