Understanding Penalty Fines: Types and Legal Implications

Posted on Dec 14, 2024 in Law & Jurisprudence

There are two types of penalty fines: fines and penalties, and days-proportional penalty fines.

Days-Fines Penalty

Sections 50 and 51 of the Spanish Penal Code

This system consists of two phases:

First Stage

Seeks to calibrate the penalty to the seriousness of the offense:

  • Identifies penalty units (one month = 30 days, a year = 360 days).
  • Follows the general rules for determining the penalty.
  • Intended to be proportionate and appropriate in light of the seriousness of the offense or crime, i.e., the more serious the offense, the more days of the fine.
  • Time Frame:
    • Minimum: 10 days
    • Maximum: 2 years

For the purposes of calculating, when attached by month, it equals 30 days, and if you look at a year, it equals a 360-day quota. Example: 2 months penalty fine and 15 days = 30 days + 30 days + 15 days = 75 days = total fine.

Second Stage

Aims to apply the principle of equal impact:

  • Each of these fine units becomes a specific amount of money, and this conversion is made solely with the economic capacity of the person in mind.
  • Pecuniary Limit:
    • Minimum: 2 euros
    • Maximum: 400 euros

Article 51 of the Spanish Penal Code provides for the possibility that, with significant changes to the economic capacity of the accused, judges and courts may modify the amounts:

  • If it improves, the amount increases.
  • If it worsens, the amount is reduced.

Proportional Penalty

Section 52 of the Spanish Penal Code

  • It is a subsidiary of the penalty for days-fine.
  • Normally consists of imposing an amount of money based on the profit and up to a multiple of it, taking into account three criteria:
    • Damage
    • The value of the subject of the crime
    • The gain produced by it
  • It’s for specific crimes (drugs, money laundering, etc.).
  • Judges have limits on the crimes in question.
  • The judges must not only account for aggravating or mitigating circumstances of the offense but also the economic capability of the subject (economic circumstances of the subject).

Article 52.3 of the Spanish Penal Code: In case the situation of the guilty party worsens, the judge or court, in exceptional circumstances and after appropriate inquiry, may reduce the amount of the fine, always within the limits defined by the crime. In the event that the economic situation improves, it will not be possible to increase it (a difference from the day-fine system).

Ancillary Criminal Liability

Article 53 of the Spanish Penal Code

If the offender does not comply voluntarily or by enforcement, the fine imposed is subject to personal liability, once satisfied, that extinguishes the obligation.

  • Article 53.1 of the Spanish Penal Code:
    • Crime: 1 day in prison for every 2 shares not satisfied (53.3 CPenal limit. Sentences of 5 years, i.e., not be imposed on persons sentenced to imprisonment exceeding 5 years. (The personal liability in case of non-payment of a fine is subject to 1 day of deprivation of freedom for every 2 shares of daily fines not satisfied).
    • Absence: In the case of faults and not a crime, it may be replaced by permanent location.
    In this case, the limitation shall not apply in duration established by Article 37.1 of the Spanish Penal Code, that is, 12 days, or in this case, it may raise the limit of 12 days of permanent placement.
    • Work for the benefit of the community, subject to approval of the defendant: Also, the judge or court may, subject to the approval of the prisoner, agree that vicarious liability is met through work for the benefit of the community. In this case, each day of imprisonment is equivalent to one day’s work.
  • Article 53.2 of the Spanish Penal Code:
    • Imprisonment, depending on the discretion of the judge or court (CP 53.3, the limit for sentences greater than 5 years of imprisonment does not apply).
    • The limit of 1 year may not be exceeded, in any case, for 1 year in duration.
    • Article 53.3: “Vicarious liability shall not be imposed on persons sentenced to imprisonment exceeding 5 years.”
    • Work for the benefit of the community, subject to the approval of the prisoner.
    • The implementation of vicarious liability extinguishes the obligation to pay the fine, even if the economic situation of the prisoner improves.

A new feature eliminates the weekend arrest.

Penalty Fine as an Alternative to Imprisonment

Advantages

It shares some virtues with imprisonment:

  • Scalability and equality
  • Without its major flaws:
    • No stigmatizing effects
    • It does not prevent the person from reaching their goals in life
    • It is not deprived of any basic sphere of freedom.

It is a pity that it complies with the proportionality principle but fails to rehabilitate.

Disadvantages

It has still not been able to reach this equality of impact required to replace a sentence with another.

  • People who cannot pay according to Article 53 have to go to prison or work for the benefit of the community: to replace one penalty with another takes into account the principle of equality.