penalty order

noun · Strafbefehl

A Strafbefehl imposes a criminal sentence in writing without any trial: the prosecutor applies, the court issues it, and if the accused does not object within two weeks it becomes final and counts as a conviction. English has no equivalent, and the deadline is the most dangerous date in German summary procedure because silence produces a criminal record.

Which translation, when

Strafbefehlthe written sentence: on the prosecutor’s application the court imposes the sentence by written order without a hearing, available for less serious offences and limited in what it may impose, a fine being the ordinary sanction and a short custodial sentence possible only suspended and only where the accused has a defence lawyer; the court itself need not hear the accused before issuing the order, but that dispensation covers only the judicial stage, since the prosecution must still have examined him during the investigation or, in simple cases, given him the chance to comment in writing.

Einspruchthe two-week window: the accused may object within two weeks of service, and an objection brings the matter to an ordinary trial, where the court is not bound by the order; without an objection the Strafbefehl becomes final and has the effect of a judgment, so it is a conviction that enters the criminal record like any other.

kein englisches Gegenstückthe translation problem: English procedure has no written conviction of this kind, the fixed penalty notice being an administrative disposal and the guilty plea a step within a court hearing, so penalty order, summary penalty order and order of punishment are all approximations; the honest rendering keeps Strafbefehl and explains it, and the accused’s options in a hearing belong to the guilty plea entry.

Why

Penalty order is the conventional English label for the Strafbefehl, and no translation should let it pass without a word of explanation, because the German instrument imposes a criminal sentence without a trial and English procedure has nothing quite like it. The prosecutor applies to the court, the court examines the file and, if it agrees, issues the order in writing; there is no hearing, and the court need not hear the accused before issuing the order. That dispensation is narrower than it looks: it releases the court alone, while the investigation stage keeps its own duty, the prosecution having to examine the accused before closing the investigation or, in simple cases, to give him the opportunity to comment in writing, a duty from which the penalty-order procedure is not excepted. In practice many defendants nonetheless first grasp what is happening when the order is served. What may be imposed is limited to the milder sanctions, a fine above all, with a custodial sentence possible only if suspended and only where the accused is represented by a lawyer, so the procedure is confined to the less serious end of criminal law. The decisive feature is what happens next. The accused may lodge an Einspruch within two weeks of service, and that objection takes the matter into an ordinary trial at which the court is not bound by the order. If the period passes without objection, the Strafbefehl becomes final and has the effect of a judgment: it is a conviction, it enters the criminal record and it can be enforced. Many defendants, and particularly foreign ones who receive an official German letter and do not read it closely, acquire a criminal record by doing nothing, which is why any translation of such a document should carry the deadline prominently. The vocabulary should stay German, since fixed penalty notice describes an administrative fine and order of punishment invents a term, and what the accused may do once a hearing takes place belongs to the guilty plea entry.

Typical mistakes

A Strafbefehl that is not objected to within two weeks becomes final and counts as a conviction, so describing it as a proposal or a fine notice understates it.
The order is issued without any hearing and without the accused being heard first, so a translation suggesting a court process misdescribes the procedure.
A fixed penalty notice is an administrative disposal, so using it for the Strafbefehl moves a criminal conviction into administrative law.

What matters

Advising a client who has received a Strafbefehl: the note should state that it is a criminal conviction unless objected to, give the two-week deadline from service, and explain that an objection leads to a full trial.

Authority

§ 407 StPO
§ 410 StPO

What the machine misses

Automatic translation renders penalty order as Bußgeldbescheid or Strafanzeige, one an administrative fine and the other a criminal complaint, while the Strafbefehl imposes a criminal sentence in writing that becomes a conviction if no objection is lodged within two weeks; the wrong word costs the reader both the nature of the document and the deadline.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

a penalty order	ein Strafbefehl
to lodge an objection	Einspruch einlegen
the order became final	der Strafbefehl ist rechtskräftig geworden
a day fine	ein Tagessatz