Electronic monitoring - new form of enforcement
The fine retains priority over the custodial sentence and continues to be permitted in conditional form. In order to deter the offender from committing further crimes, short custodial sentences are now also possible, which can also be imposed conditionally. In addition, the form of electronic monitoring will be enshrined in law. The Federal Council has enacted these and other amendments to the Criminal Code as of January 1, 2018.
On June 19, 2015, the Swiss parliament approved the amendments to the sanctions law. The referendum deadline expired unused. At the heart of the amendments is the relaxation of the requirements for imposing a short custodial sentence of less than six months. As is the case today, fines take precedence in this area. However, it will now also be possible to impose a short custodial sentence if it appears necessary to prevent the offender from committing further crimes. Depending on the probation prognosis, the short custodial sentence can also be imposed conditionally. Today, however, short custodial sentences are only possible in unconditional form, namely if there is a poor probation prognosis and the execution of a fine appears to be hopeless. In the case of fines, the law retains the maximum daily sentence of 3,000 francs, but now stipulates that as a rule a daily sentence of at least 30 francs applies, which may be reduced to 10 francs in exceptional cases.
Electronic monitoring is newly anchored in law
Electronic monitoring of the execution of sentences outside the prison will be enshrined in law as a form of execution for prison sentences of between 20 days and 12 months. Electronic monitoring can additionally be ordered towards the end of the serving of long prison sentences as an alternative to the work and residential externat for a period of 3 to 12 months.
Prison sentences of up to six months can also be executed as community service. However, unlike today, community service is no longer a punishment in its own right, but a new form of enforcement. This means that it is no longer the courts but the prison authorities that are responsible for ordering community service.
Juvenile criminal law: changes from July 2016
In juvenile criminal law, the age limit for ending measures is increased from 22 to 25. Juvenile offenders will thus have more time to acquire the basic skills required for an orderly life while serving their sentences. The increase in the upper age limit will, for example, make it possible in future for juveniles to complete a vocational apprenticeship during a measure. The Federal Council considers it necessary to implement these benefits quickly and is therefore already bringing the amendments to the Juvenile Penal Code into force on July 1, 2016.
Laws on the deportation initiative take precedence
The new sanctions law also includes the reintroduction of an optional expulsion. However, this provision is rendered obsolete by the entry into force of the amendments to the Criminal Code implementing the deportation initiative on 1 October 2016. This is because with these new laws, the optional or non-mandatory criminal expulsion already applies.
Press release FDJP
