Facts
By a judgment of January 11, 2008, X. was convicted of various offenses and sentenced to a custodial sentence of forty days with a two-year suspended sentence. The execution of the sentence was suspended in favor of institutional treatment, due to the psychiatric disorders affecting X.
The Public Prosecutor's Office of the Canton of Vaud filed a criminal appeal, primarily concluding that the judgment under appeal should be reformed in the sense that the amount of the daily fine be set at 10 francs and the sentence be imposed without suspension.
The Federal Tribunal upheld the appeal and remanded the case for a new decision.
Considerations
Regarding the determination of the monetary penalty, the Federal Tribunal recalled the principles governing the determination of the daily fine, in particular the principle of net income and the consideration of the minimum subsistence level. It noted that the costs of the respondent's placement in a nursing home should be examined to determine whether they could be deducted from her net income, in accordance with Article 380 of the Swiss Criminal Code (CP).
The Federal Tribunal also specified that the amount of the daily fine should not be reduced to a symbolic value, as this would…