Day-fine

A day-fine or day fine or unit fine is a unit of fine payment that, above a minimum fine, is based on the offender's daily personal income. A crime is punished with incarceration for a determined number of days, or with fines. As incarceration is a financial punishment, in the effect of preventing work, a day-fine represents one day incarcerated and without salary. It is argued to be just, because if both high-income and low-income population are punished with the same jail time, they should also be punished with a proportionally similar income loss. An analogy may be drawn with income tax, which is also proportional to the income, even progressively.

Jurisdictions employing the day-fine include Finland (Finnish: päiväsakko), Sweden (Swedish: dagsbot), Denmark (Danish: dagbøde), Croatia, Germany (German: Tagessatz), Switzerland, and Macao.

Unit fine systems are common and standard in many jurisdictions across the world, notably in Fenno-Scandinavia, where it originated in 1921 in Finland, and in Commonwealth countries such as Australia and New Zealand.

In Finland, the day-fine system is used for most crimes that are punishable by way of a fine. The system has been in use since 1921. Most minor infractions are punished with a fixed petty fine (rikesakko, ordningsbot) such as minor traffic and water traffic violations, littering, and breaches of public peace. A petty fine is summarily ordered by the police officer if the suspect does not contest his guilt, but the person punished may contest the fine in a district court.

Most infractions are punishable with a day-fine. For crimes warranting no more than six months in prison, the fine may be summarily ordered by the prosecutor if the suspect does not want the court to handle the case. The process of ordering a day fine is started by a police officer who makes a formal demand for the suspect to be fined. The suspect has one week to contest the demand. If the suspect does not contest the demand, the prosecutor may order a fine which may not be higher than demanded by the police officer. If the suspect contests the demand, the case may be taken to the district court if the prosecutor considers the suspect guilty. If the prosecutor considers the case to merit a term in prison or a higher fine, the case is always taken to the court. If the prosecution or the injured party do not demand a higher punishment than a fine, the district court has a quorum with a single member. The fine is paid to the bank using a giro. A fine ordered in Finland is executable in any European Union member country.

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