Fines in the Criminal Penalty System under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Specifics of Their Application

A fine as a form of criminal punishment is defined in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as «a monetary penalty imposed within the limits provided for by this Code» (Part 1 of Art. 46). It is generally classified within the subsystem of property-related punishments, while being distinguished from the judicial fine within the external relations of the system of punishments. The internal relations of this subsystem are reflected in the presence of wage or monetary-allowance deductions in the content of correctional labor (Art. 50 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), restrictions on military service (Art. 51), and compulsory labor (Art. 53.1). The content of any punishment consists not only of the legal restrictions it entails but also of its limits. In this respect, a fine may prove to be a more severe punishment than certain types of punishment that appear after the fine in the list of punishments (Art. 44 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and in the sanctions of the articles of the Special Part of the Code. Other income of the convicted person may also be subject to monetary recovery. Taken together with other statutory requirements, this may worsen the financial situation of the convicted person’s family and «give rise to cases of evasion of payment of the fine requiring its replacement with another punishment» (Part 5 of Art. 46 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Decisions of higher courts describe typical errors committed in imposing fines.

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