Finnish Penal System:

Fixed fine – 

Rikesakko - 20-200e

Fine – Sakko

Is determined on personal financial standing

Conditional imprisoment – Ehdonalainen vankeus

When prison sentens is below two years it can be passed as conditional

Community  service – Yhdyskuntapalvelu

The extent of community service is 14 -240 hours.

Monitoring sentence – Valvontarangaistus 

Person is monitored by technical and other means.

Unconditional imprisonment – Ehdoton vankeus 

Fixed term(14day-12years) or for life. Serviced in Prison

Juvenile penalty – Nuorisorangaistus  

15-17 years old kids.

Fine is a pecuniarypenalty. The total a mount of a fine is determined on the basis of two factors: the degree of reprehensibility of the criminal act and the financial standing of the person beingfined. If a fine cannot be recovered from the offender, the unpaid fine may be converted into imprisonment under certain conditions laid down in the Criminal Code. 

Monitoring sentence. The monitoring sentence is a punishment enforced in liberty. A person serving the sentence is monitored by technical and other means.  A monitoring sentence may be imposed instead of certain short sentences of unconditional imprisonment, and the maximum length of the sentence is six months. One of the conditions for imposing a monitoring sentence is that it is deemed to be justified for the maintenance or promotion of the social adaptation of the offender and that the offender is assumed to be able to comply with the obligations included in the monitoring sentence (i.e. to remain in one’s household and participate in the activities that the offender has been ordered to carry out). 

Community service. Community service is a community sanction which comprises unpaid work carried out on the sentenced person’s free time under the supervision of the Criminal Sanctions Agency or, alternatively, activities or outpatient care that aim to reduce recidivism or substance abuse problems. The extent of community service is 14-240 hours. If the sentenced person grossly violates the obligations set for him or her, a court may convert the remaining part of the community service into monitoring sentence or unconditional imprisonment. 

Juvenile penalty.  A juvenilepenaltymaybeimposed for an offencecommitted at theage of 15-17, if a fine is considered an insufficientpunishment and unconditionalimprisonment is deemedtoosevere a punishment. Thelength of thejuvenilepenalty is fromfourmonths to oneyear. Thejuvenilepenaltyconsists of supervision, differentactivities and programmespromotingtheyoungoffender’ssocialfunctioningability, as well as induction to working life and work. 

Conditional imprisonment. A sentence of imprisonment not exceeding two years may be imposed conditionally with a probationary period of a minimum of one and a maximum of three years. If conditional imprisonment alone is deemed insufficient punishment for the offence, an ancillary fine may be imposed or, if the length of the sentence of conditional imprisonment is eight months or more, an ancillary community service order for at least 14 and at most 90 hours may be imposed.  A person who has committed an offence when under 21 years of age may be subjected to supervision in order to reinforce conditional imprisonment, if this is deemed justified in order to promote the social adaptation of the young offender or to prevent further offences. 

If the sentenced person during the probationary period commits an offence for which he or she is sentenced to unconditional imprisonment, the sentence of conditional imprisonment may be ordered to be enforced either in full or in part. 

Probationary liberty under supervision.  At most six months before the regular conditional release, a prisoner may be placed outside prison in probationary liberty under supervision, if the conditions for placement in probationary liberty are met.  The purpose of probationary liberty is to promote the sentenced person's social adjustment by means of a gradual and well-planned release. 

Conditional release. A person serving a fixed-term sentence of imprisonment is conditionally released when he or she has served a specified proportion of the sentence. Conditional release refers to the release of a prisoner serving an unconditional sentence of imprisonment or a monitoring sentence to serve the rest of the sentence in freedom, either under supervision or without supervision. A probationary period, which is equivalent to the length of the sentence remaining at the time of release, begins when a sentenced person is conditionally released. However, the maximum length of the probationary period is three years. 

Unconditional imprisonment. A sentence of imprisonment is imposed for a fixedtermor for life. Thelength of a fixed-termsentence of imprisonment is determined in accordance with the penallatitude provided for the offence. A fixed-term sentence of imprisonment is imposed for at least fourteen days and at most twelve years. When a person is sentenced to a joint punishment of imprisonment for two or more offences at the same time, the maximum length is 15 years.  A sentence of life imprisonment maybe imposed only for certain most aggravated offences. 

 

Imprisonment may be imposed either for a determinate period (at least fourteen days and at most twelve years for a single offence and fifteen years for several offences) or for life. 

Community Service 

In Finland, community service is imposed only instead of unconditional imprisonment. The duration of community service may vary between 20 and 200 hours. 

Fines 

The dayfine-system. – In Finland fines are imposed as dayfines 

Day-fines is determined on the basis of the seriousness of the offence while the amount of a dayfine depends on the financial situation of the offender. 

The number of day-fines varies between 1 and 120. 

If the fine is not paid it may be converted into imprisonment (default imprisonment) 

Two day-fines correspond to one day of imprisonment. 

Unconditional Imprisonment 

A sentence of imprisonment can be imposed for a fixed term of a minimum of fourteen days and a maximum of twelve years or, if the sentence concerns several offences, a maximum of fifteen years. Sentences of imprisonment of over two years are always unconditional, which means that they must be served in prison.  

Juvenile Sentence 

A Juvenile who has committed a crime between the ages of 15 and 17 can be sentenced to juvenile if the fine is considered insufficient and imprisonment as too sever a punishment 

Monitoring sentence  

The guideline is that the monitoring sentence can be imposed if it is regarded to promote the offender’s social coping and contribute to the prevention of further offences. Possible prior unconditional prison sentences and the nature of the offence may prevent from passing a monitoring sentence. In addition, the monitoring sentence requires that the dwelling place of the sentenced offender is suitable for the enforcement of the sentence and that the people living in the same place give their consent it. 

- Helmi, Johanna, Harri, Aki

 

Summary penal fee / Fixed fine - that´s the mildest penalty you can get and you can´t transfer that into a sentence 

 

Fine – this is the mildest penalty that you can get from the district court and you can transfer it into a sentence 

 

Remand imprisonment – the purpose of this imprisonment is to secure the pre-trial investigation of an offence, the court proceedings and the enforcement of the sentence as well as to prevent the continuation of criminal activity. 

 

Community service - you are working for the community without payment, conditional inprisonment sentences under 8 months can be transferred into a community service 

 

Conditional imprisonment 

 

Unconditional imprisonment 

Life imprisonment is the maximum criminal penalty in Finland 

 

Combination sentence is for serious reoffenders. Consists of prison sentence and one year supervision. If monitoring time is violated, rest of the time will be chnaged to prison sentence. 

 

Juvenile imprisonment can be sentenced to criminals who are 15-17 years old if fee is too mild sanction of their offence and unconditional imprisonment is too harsh.