5 - Day Fines in Denmark

Summary

Day fines were introduced in 1939 as an alternative to short-term custodial sentences and to punish rich and poor equally hard. Thus, the daily unit must be fixed according the average daily earnings of the offender (taking account of living conditions, capital resources, family responsibilities etc.). The number of day fines must be fixed between 1 and 60, having regard to the seriousness of the offence. Day fines can be applied for violations of the Criminal Code only in court (no administrative day fines). Thus, day fines are relatively rare compared to the total number of fines, but used for a broad range of violations of the Criminal Code, including negligent manslaughter and assault. The Danish experience shows that there is a risk of the system not being applied in accordance with its purpose. In some cases, judges calculate the fine by determining first the over-all amount of the fine and therefrom deduct the number of day fines and the daily unit. There is no research on the level of acceptance of day fines among the general population. It has been proposed to abolish the system, but there has not been much public criticism for the last 20 years.