Day-fine

A day-fine, unit fine or structured fine is a pecuniary sanction which is based on the severity of the offence as well as the income (or wealth) of the offender.

The fine amount is calculated by determining the number of days based on the severity of the violation—the more severe the violation, the greater the number of days imposed. The daily unit, which represents how much is paid per day, is a standardized portion of an individual's daily income, ensuring equal proportional impact across all offenders. The total fine is the product of the number of days and the daily unit.

The rationale behind this type of fine is to create a fining system which equalises the burden of the punishment on the offenders, irrespective of their income. It has been introduced in different countries for a variety of reasons: to replace a short-term imprisonment sentence, to make the finding system more fair across different income groups, to enhance deterrence.

The day fine system is practices already in around half of the European countries, and in some additional jurisdictions around the world. Among those jurisdiction are Denmark (Danish: dagbøde), Estonia (Estonian: päevamäär), Finland (Finnish: päiväsakko), France (French: Jour-amende), Germany (German: Tagessatz), Portugal (Portuguese: Astreinte), Sweden (Swedish: dagsbot), Switzerland, and Macau (Chinese: 刑法典).

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