NCJ Number
138538
Date Published
1993
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The first day fine experiment in U.S. courts was implemented between 1987 and 1989 in the Criminal Court of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York.
Abstract
The project tested the impact of day fines on court sentencing patterns and sought to determine whether the theoretical complexity of the day fine or the burden of its 2-stage procedure decreased the use of fines, whether the use of fines shifted from one offense type to another, whether day fine amounts were higher than fixed fines, and whether day fines alone or in concert with new collection techniques had any effect on collection outcomes. The project design involved a before-and-after comparison of felony and misdemeanor arrests disposed of in the Staten Island Criminal Court before the introduction of day fines and during the day fine project's pilot year. Day fines were successfully introduced into routine sentencing during the pilot year, and the introduction of day fines did not appreciably affect judicial sentencing decisions. After the introduction of day fines, average fines imposed for penal law offenses rose by 25 percent. The total amount of fines imposed by the court in penal law cases increased by 14 percent during the pilot year, from $82,060 to $93,856. As expected, more variation occurred among individual fine amounts when they were calculated using the day fine system. Despite the substantial increase in average fine amounts, introduction of the day fine system did not undermine the court's high collection rates. Day fines, however, took longer to collect than fixed fines. The day fine program significantly reduced the number of arrest warrants issued for failure to appear at postsentence hearings. In general, under the day fine system, individual income played a greater role in determining fine amount, even when other factors were controlled. 2 tables and 10 notes