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Penalty order — overview and defence options

Key Points


Penalty Without a Trial: A penal order imposes a penalty for an offense without a court hearing to expe­dite the process and save costs.

Two-Week Objec­tion Period: If you receive a penal order, you only have two weeks to file an objec­tion. Don’t hesi­tate to act quickly.

Two-Week Objec­tion Period: If you receive a penal order, you only have two weeks to file an objec­tion. Don’t hesi­tate to act quickly.

Conse­quences of Accep­tance: Accep­ting the penal order may result in an entry in the Federal Central Register, which can have profes­sional and personal conse­quences.

Objec­tion and Defense: Filing an objec­tion nulli­fies the penal order and gene­rally leads to a main hearing, where you can defend yourself and present evidence.

You open the letter box and find a yellow enve­lope contai­ning a docu­ment impo­sing a penalty on you. If you have received such a penalty order, you should act as soon as possible and seek legal advice. As an objec­tion to a penalty order must be lodged within two weeks of recei­ving the postal service certi­fi­cate, you should act quickly and contact a legal profes­sional.

Penalty order – Punishment Without a Trial?

A penalty order (§§ 407 – 412 StPO) is a written court direc­tive that sets a penalty for a specific unlawful act and is issued without a prior oral hearing. The purpose of a penalty order is to ease the burden on the judi­ciary and reduce the dura­tion and costs of procee­dings.

At the request of the public prose­cutor, the court can impose various legal conse­quences in the penalty order, such as fines, driving bans, or revo­ca­tion of a driver’s license. Addi­tio­nally, if the accused has legal repre­sen­ta­tion, a suspended prison sentence of up to one year may also be imposed.

A penalty order becomes final if the accused does not file an objec­tion within two weeks of receipt. A final penalty order is equi­va­lent to a judgment (§ 410 (3) StPO).

When a penalty order becomes final.

When a penalty order becomes final. Instead of a penalty order, the public prose­cutor may also file charges and request the opening of the main hearing. This can occur if the public prose­cutor demands a higher penalty than allowed in the penalty order proce­dure. However, a penalty order offers a quicker and more cost-effec­tive way to conclude the criminal case.

What requirements must be met for a penalty order?

A penalty order can only be issued for a misde­me­anour (§ 12 (1) StGB). These are unlawful acts that carry a minimum penalty of impri­son­ment of less than one year or a fine.

In addi­tion, there must be suffi­cient suspi­cion of the offence (§ 203 StPO). This means that it must be more likely for the accused to be convicted than acquitted. For this, the criminal case must be simple and straight­for­ward, meaning there must be no compli­cated ques­tions of evidence or legal issues.

The guilt of the offender is not deter­mined but merely considered probable. The court decides in a so-called “summary proce­dure,” which means solely based on the content of the criminal file without a main hearing.

The purpose of the penal order is to address minor criminal offenses. This parti­cu­larly includes simple bodily harm (§ 223 StGB), petty theft (§ 242 StGB), driving without a license (§ 21 StVG), driving under the influence (§ 316 StGB), or using public trans­port without a valid ticket (§ 265a StGB).

What can you do if you receive a penalty order?

If you receive a penalty order, you essen­ti­ally have two options: you can accept the order or object to it.

If you accept the penalty order, you must pay the fine or serve the sentence. Addi­tio­nally, the penalty order will be recorded in the Federal Central Register and possibly in the driving apti­tude register, which can have nega­tive conse­quences for your profes­sional and personal future.

If you do not accept the penalty order, you can file an objec­tion within two weeks of its deli­very (§ 410 Abs. 1 StPO). The objec­tion must be submitted in writing or recorded at the court office of the court that issued the penalty order. Gene­rally, you do not need to provide reasons for your objec­tion.

Filing an objec­tion means that the penalty order will not take effect and a main hearing before the court will follow. In this hearing, you can defend yourself, present evidence, call witnesses, and ask ques­tions. You can also hire an attorney to advise and repre­sent you. The court may then dismiss, amend, or confirm the penalty order, or impose a higher or lower sentence.

A special form of objec­tion is the so-called limited objec­tion (§ 410 Abs. 2 StPO). This allows you to limit your objec­tion to specific parts of the penalty order, such as the amount of the fine or the dura­tion of a driving ban.

The advan­tage of a limited objec­tion is that you only risk a higher penalty for the contested part. The disad­van­tage is that you accept the uncon­tested part and must pay or serve the corre­spon­ding penalty. Addi­tio­nally, the court may consider other circum­s­tances in the main hearing that could be unfa­vorable to you.

The dangers and risks of a penalty order

The purpose of a penalty order is to ease the burden on the judi­ciary, allo­wing lengthy and costly court procee­dings to be bypassed.

At the same time, prin­ci­ples of the rule of law such as “no punish­ment without guilt” can be diluted, as there is no thorough exami­na­tion of the facts but only a presump­tion of the offen­der’s guilt, under­mi­ning the prin­ci­ples of public, oral, and direct hearings.

In prac­tice, it is also observed that most penalty orders are directed at poorer and more vulnerable segments of society, such as the home­less, drug addicts, the mentally ill, or low-income pensio­ners. The deli­very of the penalty order can be proble­matic, and the language used in the docu­ment is often diffi­cult to under­stand, which can lead to reci­pi­ents not fully compre­hen­ding the contents or the instruc­tions regar­ding their legal rights.

A penalty order is not a harm­less letter but a serious matter that should not be taken lightly. Being found guilty through a penalty order and recei­ving a penalty can impact your finan­cial, profes­sional, and personal circum­s­tances. It may lead to an entry in your criminal record, which can cause problems when applying for jobs or housing and may also endanger your driver’s license if you are convicted of a traffic offense. Addi­tio­nally, a penalty order may rest­rict certain rights, such as serving in a volun­teer capa­city.

How can we help you?

If you have received a penalty order, you should not act hastily, but should first contact an expe­ri­enced and quali­fied lawyer. Our law firm Mügge, Dr Pitschel & Partner has many years of exper­tise in criminal law and can provide you with compre­hen­sive and indi­vi­dual advice.

We will check for you whether the penalty order is lawful and appro­priate, whether you should lodge an appeal and what oppor­tu­ni­ties and risks are involved.

We also repre­sent you in court and stand up for your rights and inte­rests. We are there for you if you have received a penalty order.

If you have received a penalty order, please contact us as soon as possible so that we can lodge an objec­tion to the penalty order within two weeks of service.

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