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ZorbaTHut  2yr ago (text post)   31617 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 17, 2022

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Parole and probation are, well, probationary measures; they're a supervised relaxing of a punishment conditional on good behavior, rather than a punishment themselves. If you're out on parole it means you should be in prison but we're trusting you. They don't intuitively map to me as part of the sentence.

A fine, however, is. You get sentenced to a five thousand dollar fine and five year in prison, and during that sentence you might be let out on parole.

A fine is much more centrally a part of a sentence than probation is.

I think there's some merit to what you're saying... but would you agree that there's a difference between the fines given in sentencing and the fines that are tacked on for processing?

I'd probably be fine with saying these people needed to pay the fines referenced by the judge. But if someone is sentenced to jailtime, and then a bunch of fines are tacked on as part of the processing for the court and the jail... those don't seem like they shkuld be part of the sentence.

If those “tacked on” fines aren’t part of the sentence, by what authority are they being imposed? If you are legally obligated to pay a sum of money as a result of a criminal conviction, it seems to me you have been “sentenced” to pay that sum of money.

So your answer is "no". Got it.

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