Fines, Risks and Damages: Money Sanctions and Justice in Control Societies

Abstract:     
Fines and damages are the principal sanctions of criminal, civil and regulatory law. Yet in law it does not matter who pays money sanctions. Damages overwhelmingly are paid by insurers and the cost of insurance premiums loaded into commodity prices and thus dispersed among consumers. Fines are paid anonymously, increasingly are set by a fixed tariff (especially traffic fines that are the vast bulk of all fines), and are merging with fees, licenses, taxes and premiums. Fines and damages thus work literally as prices, and serve to modulate and regulate distributions of harmful or unwanted actions. In this sense justice is far more about the governance of risk than about individual justice.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 42

Keywords: fines, risks, damages, money, justice, Foucault

JEL Classification: K10, K14, K30

Accepted Paper Series