ABSTRACT
An accurate analysis of the fine must contain a set of interpretative techniques sensitive to how money, time, and freedom are perceived and to the range of dispositions and expectations which inform how they are used. A series of associations based on the idea of money generated a pattern of practices and dispositions that have strongly influenced the way we see the compulsory payment of a sum of money to the state as a ‘suitable’ punishment only for some offences or offenders. In market societies one could say that money is indeed the measure of all things. In criminal law, loss of money is the bearer of qualitatively different meanings compared with loss of freedom. One should rationally conclude that money cannot be equated with freedom. Money and freedom are not interchangeable because they are thought to have equal value – quite the opposite.
