The F1indings Analysis was conducted to answer each of the six principal research questions.
How different will fine amounts be if they are assessed accorcjing to the defendant's income rather than according to the tar~ffmethods previously used by municipal courts? The use of day fines resulted in substantially lower fineS betng imposed, on average. For those given day fines, the average fine imposed per case was $72, compared to an average of $112 per case when the fine was determined by the conventional method. As discussedabove, the project's designers set boundaries on the day fines to be imposed, so' that in some cases, the fine amount was not matched precisely to the violator's ability to pay. That is, all violators were given at least a $30 fine, regardless of their ability to pay even that small amou"nt. Upper caps were also established by the statutory limits on fines, which limited the ability to fine highincome earners proportionately. If the amount of fines had been set strictly according to the day-fine formula of mUltiplying benchmarks by day-fine unit rate, 36 percent of those given day fines would have had a fine less than $30 imposed. A smaller proportion-22 percent-would have a higher amount imposed. Overall, the average fine would have been lower-14 percent less than what was actually imposed.
Are day fines more likely to be paid? The use of day fines appears not to have reduced significantly the rate of nonpayment. Nonpayment rates were high in both groups: within the 4-month followup period, 59 percent of those in the day-fine group failed to pay, compared to 61 percent of those in the group given conventional fines (see table 12). However, of those who paid, persons given day fines were more likely to pay in full rather than submitting partial payment. Thirty-seven percent of those given 'day fines paid in full, compared with only 25 percent of those given conventional fines. It is reasonable to conclude that the higher rate of full payment by day-fined offenders wus due to the lower fine amounts imposed on these persons.
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Day Fines in American Courts