ABSTRACT
Money is probably the most frequently used means of punishing, deterring, compensating and regulating throughout the legal system. This should come as no surprise. Most of us pay fines several times a year, perhaps for a parking infraction or speeding on the highway, some of us for being drunk in public, others for running afoul of health and safety regulations, still others for assault and more serious offences. If corporations cannot be imprisoned, at least like the rest of us they can be fined and made to pay monetary damages to those they have harmed, even inadvertently. If we are defamed, the law may compensate us in money, even if we may have lost nothing but our pride. If we are maimed, hurt or even just traumatized, this may be made up to us in the form of money damages. With respect to automobile accidents, monetary compensation is paid by insurance companies on our behalf often in lieu of court awarded damages.With the purchase of verymany commodities we contribute to the cost of damages paid to those who fall victim to exploding soft drink bottles, industrial accidents or drugs that have unexpected side effects. The cost of liability insurance against such losses to the manufacturers is built into the purchase price. Not only that, but of course these monies often include not only damages but also the associated legal costs. Restorative justice issues, small claims courts and neighbourhood justice disputes are often settled by relatively small payments in restitution. Restitution orders are also adjuncts or alternatives to fines in many jurisdictions, as are punitive damages, especially with respect to corporations and government offices. Monetary penalties and compensations are ubiquitous. They outnumber other sanctions delivered by criminal justice in many jurisdictions. Monetary damages long ago became the default remedy in civil law. Therefore, it is a surprise how little criminologists and sociolegal scholars talk about the nature of money and of its specific characteristics as a legal sanction. Indeed, with respect to criminology
and criminal justice policy, it is amazing how little theoretically guided work has been devoted to monetary penalties at all.
