Typical fines - Tickets vs. jailable offenses

[Question]

I'm aware that the maximum fines increase for each degree higher of offense severity. However, when I read the paper, I usually hear about some John Doe getting one year in jail but only having to pay $500 for a pretty serious crime (aggravated assault etc.) And I compare this to first-time DUI costs which usually go up to the $10,000s (license fees and fines combined) or even certain traffic offenses, which combined can get to be over a $1,000.

So this brings me to my question:

Do defendants who serve jail time generally pay lesser fines than those people who do not serve jail time for the same offense? And is my perception correct that misdemeanor convicts (DUI, marijuana possession) pay the highest fines in general rather than the hardcore felons (restitution and federal offenses excluded)?

[ChesCopPodz]

That depends, how much do you think your time is worth if you sit in jail? If you have a job that nets you 100,000 per year, and you sit in jail for 6 months, you lose 50,000.

On the other hand, a large portion of the fines you see aren't imposed by the court. DMV's have very large fines to reinstate licenses.

[Question]

Apologies if I sound bigoted (that's not my intention), but aren't the majority of prisoners not productive in the workforce either? IOW, on average aren't felons either unemployed or jumping from low-paying job to low-paying job?

[scott715us]

Apologies if I sound bigoted (that's not my intention), but aren't the majority of prisoners not productive in the workforce either? IOW, on average aren't felons either unemployed or jumping from low-paying job to low-paying job?

These fines you are referring too will also be affected by what legislation is doing also. In the Reagan era, the dominant issue was drugs (war on drugs, etc). There were stiffer penalties that included longer jail sentencing and stiffer court fees/fines. Here in the last few years, with the huge problem the U.S. has finally seen on drunk driving, the fines & penalties have increased tremendously for DUI offenders, because they keep repeating. Now a 2nd offense DUI in TN will be a minimum 45 days in jail with at least $1k in court fines.

There are usually standard fees/penalties set by the D.A. for specific charges, whether the person is a repeat offender, if it is the second time for the same charge, etc. These fines also don't show reimbursement for theft crimes, vandalism, etc. Not only do you take in the severity of the crime, but the past criminal history of the offender, retribution costs, probation costs, court fines. There is probably a lot of money you don't see.

But, in most cases, the jail time vs. the fines usually has no bearing.