You board a train, or bus....in Germany...without a ticket. When the conductor/audit-guy comes around....he'll assess the situation, and normally (like 99-percent of the time)....he'll ask you for your 'pass' (ID) and write up a legal document....with a 60-Euro fine.
Typically, you pay the fine on the spot....if not, then there's a summons to pay the fine in some city court situation. Then this document is entered for your first 'warning'.
If you were stupid and went onto a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th event....that's when the collection mounts, and you start to get a judge involved. Roughly, on average....this occurs around 7,000 to 9,000 occasions a year in Germany. This is where a jail sentence is talked about (up to 1-year).
So....I noted yesterday....the Attorney-General of Germany (SPD member)....wants to decriminalize this stuff.....no court action....no jail.
How the repeat offenders will be handled? Unknown.
Lot of facts missing? Yeah.
I looked it up.....German states (16 of them) cover the cost of this court action....adds up to around 250 million Euro a year roughly. Fair amount of man-hours involved.
I also noted.....out of Frankfurt....they've almost given up the court action....simply telling the repeat offenders to pay 60 Euro on each occasion.
A lot of the repeat offenders being non-German? This is suggested via social media, but no real facts to support the idea.
I've been on trains and buses where an audit occurred, and the guy/gal didn't have a ticket. I'd say that in 50-percent of the cases.....they were non-German. I also noted that in 95-percent of cases....it's a male-thing (women rarely ride 'free').
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