In the misdemeanours law, a fine is the main sanction, which, in addition to the secondary sanctions, can be imposed on the perpetrator of the offence. The offence decision also specifies the deadline within which the perpetrator must pay the fine. In case of default or the inability to pay, the Misdemeanours Act, when fulfilling the required conditions, also provides for other measures whose effect is equal to the payment of the fine. Hence, the perpetrator can do community payback instead of paying; if they fail to do so, the competent authorities recover the fine, but when even the forcible collection is not successful, the perpetrator is sentenced to substitute imprisonment.
Therefore, the master's thesis presents and critically deals with all aspects of the fine and its enforcement. The general characteristics of these institutes are presented, together with the procedure of their imposition and criticisms of the legal regulation. The thesis highlights the problems that the competent authorities face or might face when using the institutes in practice, and presents potential solutions for them. A little more attention is paid to the substitute imprisonment, or the suitability of a detention order for the minor misdemeanours law in general. Since the misdemeanours law is part of the penal law along with the criminal law, the thesis also defines the suitability of the relationship between the enforcement of a fine and a financial penalty. From the comparative-legal point of view, the thesis briefly presents the regulations of certain European countries, and due to its similarity with the Slovenian one, the regulation of the Republic of Ireland is analysed in detail. On the basis of the findings, the main criticisms and shortcomings of the current regulation of the enforcement of fines and proposals for its amendments are highlighted in the conclusion.
|
