Receiving an on the spot penalty: A tale of morality, common sense and law-abidance
| Date | 01 April 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1748895817738556 |
| Author | Adam Snow |
| Published date | 01 April 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895817738556
Criminology & Criminal Justice
2019, Vol. 19(2) 141 –159
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1748895817738556
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Receiving an on the spot
penalty: A tale of morality,
common sense and law-
abidance
Adam Snow
Liverpool Hope University, UK
Abstract
This article examines citizens’ reactions to being issued with an on the spot penalty and the
consequences this has for holding a law-abiding identity. Using mundane examples of statutory
requirements regulating everyday life (motoring), it is found that people use common-sense
purposive reasoning in their interpretation of law which does not match the actual black-letter law
application of the specific statutes. The lack of congruence between the purposive understandings
of legal requirements and the black-letter application of enforcement agencies allows citizens to
maintain a moral position that is aligned with the aims of the law but not its actual requirements.
This process reaffirms a belief in law-abidance even where the citizen has been found to break
the law.
Keywords
Common sense, law-abidance, motoring, on the spot penalties, parking
Introduction
If the average individual encounters authority as a wrongdoer they are more than likely
to receive an on the spot penalty notice (hereafter OTSP) as a result. Many jurisdictions
use the OTSP, including common law systems such as Australia, the USA and Canada,
and civil law systems such as Germany, France and Italy. This article examines the
perspectives of OTSP recipients in England and Wales, their experience of receiving
such penalty and the impact this has on citizens’ claims to be ‘law-abiding’.
OTSPs are a ubiquitous penalty for offending at the lower of end of seriousness, par-
ticularly for motoring offending. The procedures and legal foundations may differ
Corresponding author:
Adam Snow, School of Social Science, Liverpool Hope University, Childwall, Liverpool, L16 9JD, UK.
Email: snowa@hope.ac.uk
738556CRJ0010.1177/1748895817738556Criminology & Criminal JusticeSnow
research-article2017
Article
142 Criminology & Criminal Justice 19(2)
depending on jurisdiction, and penalty type, but the underlying principle is the same:
they are a mechanism for imposing a financial penalty for legal contravention without
the need to go to court. An officer (police or other enforcement agent) issues a charge
(from £30 upwards) which requires the recipient to pay the penalty within a specified
period. If the penalty is paid then the matter is not referred to the courts. If the penalty
remains unpaid then the traditional enforcement route takes over (either through the
criminal courts, or via debt collection in the case of most unpaid parking tickets).
OTSPs are used to punish problematic (and mundane) everyday activities such as
driving, or parking, a motorcar or dealing with one’s rubbish. In terms of criminal law
Table 1. The number of OTSPs issued for a cross-section of offences.
Description Legislation Enforcement agency Number of OTSPs
issued (year ending
March)
Truancy Education Act 1996 Head Teacher/
Deputy Head
151,125 (DFE,
2015)
Obtaining a free
prescription
without a valid
exemption
certificate
National Health
Services Act 2006
NHS Business
Services Authority
430,971 (Hansard,
2015a)
Penalty notices for
disorder
Criminal Justice and
Police Act 2001
Police (and
accredited persons)
43,373 (MOJ, 2016)
Moving traffic
violations
(speeding, red light,
etc.)
Road Traffic Act
1988
Police 1,022,352 (Home
Office, 2016)
Late licensing
penalty (untaxed
vehicles without
SORN)
Vehicle Excise and
Registration Act
1994
DVLA 480,790 (Hansard,
2015b)
Litter, graffiti, dog
fouling waste
Environmental
Protection Act 1990
Local authorities 72,136 (Appleton,
2012)a
Sub-total 2,200,747
Local authority
Penalty Charge
Notices (parking
tickets)
Associated Road
Traffic Regulations
Local authorities 8,010,194 (London
Councils, 2015;
TPT, 2015)
Local authority
bus lane and
box junction
enforcement
Road Traffic
Regulation Act 1984
Local authorities 2,711,595 (London
Councils, 2015;
TPT, 2015)
Total 12,922,536
Note: aThe Coalition government stopped collecting centralized local government Fixed Penalty Notices
post-2010 (ostensibly for reasons of ‘transparency’ (Pickles, 2010)). The figures reported here are taken
from a series of Freedom of Information requests by the Manifesto Club in their report Pavement injustice
(Appleton, 2012).
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