Is a $1 Million Fine for Speeding too Much?

Like my views on many criminal justice issues, I'm a bit conflicted about this BBC story about a Swedish driver who is being fined about $1 million by Swiss authorities for driving 180 mph. This sounds absurd (and at some level, of course, it is), but if the idea of a fine is to deter speeders, then penalties based on income and/or wealth can be appropriate. On the other hand, I don't like revenue-hungry politicians. I don't like speed traps (though that's presumably not an issue in this instance). And I don't like class warfare policies designed to poke rich people in the eye for the sin of, well, being rich. Feedback is welcome, as always.

A Swedish motorist caught driving at 290km/h (180mph) in Switzerland could be given a world-record speeding fine of SFr1.08m ($1m; £656,000), prosecutors say. The 37-year-old, who has not been named, was clocked driving his Mercedes sports car at 170km/h over the limit. Under Swiss law, the level of fine is determined by the wealth of the driver and the speed recorded. In January, a Swiss driver was fined $290,000 - the current world record.

Should Convicts Be Allowed to Smoke?

I'm somewhat conflicted by this BBC story from New Zealand. I want prison to be a miserable experience so that there is a strong deterrent effect. Yet anything that keeps prisoners calm is presumably good for prison management. The guy who sent me this story included a comment that a smoking ban will increase the lifespan of prisoners and that will increase the burden on taxpayers (at least for those serving life sentences). I'm enough of a budget geek that this is a compelling argument for me. Give them all unfiltered cigarettes! (except, of course, the ones in jail for victimless crimes, all of whom should be immediately released).

New Zealand is to ban smoking throughout the country's prisons from 1 July 2011, Corrections Minister Judith Collins has announced. The announcement has prompted concerns that violence in prisons could increase if prisoners are denied tobacco. But Ms Collins dismissed the warnings and said high levels of smoking were a risk to staff and prisoners. About 5,700 prisoners - two-thirds of the current total in New Zealand prisons - are smokers. ...Former inmate Shenelle Ngatai told TVNZ that cigarettes were like gold in prisons, where they are used as currency. She also said that jails would become more corrupt if cigarettes were taken off prisoners. ...Denying inmates their "fix" would lead to an increase in violence between desperate prisoners, she added. Human Rights lawyer Michael Bott agreed that the ban would cause more problems than it might solve. "They are going to be very frustrated, very dangerous; it's a toxic dangerous environment, made even worse by such foolishness as this," he told 3News in New Zealand. However, Ms Collins insists that the smoking ban will have other advantages. It would make it easier to put more than one prisoner in each cell, she said, and reduce the number of prison officers suing the government for being exposed to second-hand smoke.