ABSTRACT
The massive expansion of the fine over the first half of the twentieth century in some countries but not in others, and the discontinuities in the same country, must be viewed partially in relationship to changes in ideologies sustaining political regimes. It has been argued that during periods of depression the fine becomes less feasible, and consequently short terms of imprisonment become more prevalent. The German penal system during the first third of the twentieth century developed out of the German criminal law shaped by the codification movement of the nineteenth century. The chapter aims to take one step towards understanding the development of fines in the second half of the twentieth century. In the last third of the twentieth century it was quite common to insist on the benefits of this form of sentencing, particularly on the fact that fines produce less reoffending.
