Some examples of additional fees include paying into a “Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Fund” for sexual-based crimes. There are also additional penalties for certain types of computer crimes, drug crimes, etc.
The legislature has carved out a lot of different things and decided they want to give additional money to a specific areas. Those additional monetary penalties are only charged to people who have been convicted of that type of crime.
What Would Be Considered A High Fine In Municipal Court?
Anything approaching the maximum fine is high. There is no minimum fine for disorderly persons or petty disorderly person’s offenses because the law doesn’t require that people get fined for convictions, it just authorizes a maximum amount if the judge does impose a fine. For a petty disorderly person’s offense, the maximum fine is $500, and for a disorderly person’s offense the maximum fine is $1,000.
Somebody with a first time conviction often receives a lower fine than someone with a more extensive criminal record.
Can The Fines Increase If You’re Convicted of the Same Offense More Than Once?
Yes, the fines can increase for each subsequent conviction. Therefore, someone who was convicted of possessing marijuana once might receive a fine of $250 on their first offense. However, the next time the fine might be $500. The more times a person has been convicted of something, or the longer their overall criminal record is, the stiffer the punishment is going to be, and that includes higher fines.
The fine cannot go above the maximum statutory amount. However, they would be more likely to see a higher fine each time they were convicted of the same thing.
Do People Ever Opt For Jail Time As Opposed To Paying The Fine?
Sometimes people do ask for jail time instead of fines, but that’s not actually an option. People have this notion that they can pay more to avoid certain penalties like jail or license suspension, or go to jail or serve a longer license suspension instead of paying a fine, but that’s really mostly fantasy. The judge chooses the sentence, not the defendant. It’s a punishment. Allowing a defendant to choose the least onerous of a range of penalties would defeat the purpose of sentencing.
Will Jail Always Be A $50 A Day?
Yes. The legislature has set the amount at $50 per day as the rate at which fines are paid off for jail time. They could choose to amend that in the future to increase or decrease the daily rate.
For more information on Additional Costs Associated With Fines, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you’re seeking by calling (609) 448-2700 today.