ABSTRACT Fines are commonly assumed to be non‐disruptive sanctions, creating no barriers to rehabilitation or reintegration. In this paper, which draws on interviews with nine community justice practitioners in Scotland, I show how fines enforcement is a neglected aspect of contemporary punishment, one which often obstructs prospects for rehabilitation and reintegration. Practitioners described how extended entanglement in enforcement creates a form of ‘liminality’ that inhibits the identity transformation which is often central to desistance. Financial penalties add burdens precisely when people are attempting to stabilise their lives. As such, repeated fines and their enforcement can derail desistance. My analysis reveals contradictions between fines enforcement and rehabilitative aims of sentencing. Where rehabilitation requires stability, material resources, and relational support, enforcement erodes all three. This paper argues for new evaluations of the ‘leniency’ of fines, ones that recognise how fines and financial penalties can undermine rehabilitative aims across punishment systems.
ABSTRACT Social influences and group‐based dynamics are well‐established factors in the reoffending puzzle, calling for programmes that empower people in prison to re‐develop and strengthen a pro‐social sense of self and belonging as part of a law‐abiding society. Sports are a popular and effective way to engage these social identities for positive behavioural change. The Toolkit for Socially Transformative Interventions (TSTI) offers 11 practical tools to maximise the transformative potential of group‐based sports interventions in criminal justice. These tools emphasise the role of social bonds before starting, during, and after interventions to help promote behavioural change and improve wellbeing among incarcerated individuals. By embedding prosocial identities and empowering participants within interventions, the toolkit provides an adaptable, evidence‐based framework for improving behaviour, strengthening community reintegration, and enhancing the effectiveness of socially driven interventions.
