The results provide little evidence to suggest the presence of marginal deterrent effects from court-imposed fines on driving offenders. The most consistent predictors of returning to court were individual attributes of offenders. As a result, it is suggested that substantial increases in fines and license disqualifications would have limited potential in deterring recidivist offenders. Fines are the most common penalty imposed in NSW for criminal convictions. Despite the frequency with which fines are imposed and the increase in their magnitude, little is known about the effectiveness of financial penalties in reducing recidivism rates of convicted offenders. This study investigated whether fine amount had an impact on reoffending. Specifically, it examined the history and subsequent reoffending of 70,000 persons who received a court imposed fine for a driving offense between 1998 and 2000. The study begins by outlining the major beliefs of deterrence theory before reviewing previous empirical research that has examined the deterrent effect of punishment severity. Tables, references and appendix