I think the problem is that law and order in the majority of this country is primarily supported by these fines. This may create a (biased or not) financial incentive to not only find more people guilty but to tax them the maximum penalty. The charging for jail is the most ridiculous. You keep someone in jail, preventing them from even earning money for the original fine and then when they get out, you tell them they now have to pay for their own incarceration? "The only reason that the court is in operation and doing business at that point in time is because that defendant has come in and is a user of those services. They don't necessarily see themselves as a customer because, obviously, they're not choosing to be there. But in reality they are." That is insane. You can't squeeze blood from a stone. The bottom line is we are slowly reviving the debtor's prison and guilty or innocent, criminal and taxpayer alike are paying through the nose for it. And for what exactly? Is this money going back to the good of the community or just someone's pocket?