Sentencing rationales, judicial discretion, and the practice of criminal fines in Israel

Much attention has been paid over the last three decades to the examination of the criminal fine, its administration, enforcement policies, and effectiveness. Yet, one research topic has often been overlooked: the link between sentencing rationales, judiciary discretion, and fining policy. The present research, based upon ninety hours of phenomenological semi-structured interviews undertaken in a random sample of forty active Israeli magistrates, six hundred verdicts, and quantitative data regarding the fining policy in Israel, analyzed the degree of harmony/disparity between these variables. The main findings revealed lack of confidence in the ability of the criminal fine to successfully achieve different penal objectives, scarcity of knowledge of actual fining administration procedures, and a high degree of harmony between fining rationales and ideology.