Municipal Offense

In Wisconsin, a municipal offense, also called an ordinance offense, civil offense, noncriminal offense, or municipal infraction, is the infringement of a city ordinance rather than a criminal statute; a municipal offense is not a crime. Montana municipal code takes a similar approach: under section 7-1-4150, a municipal infraction is a civil offense carrying a civil penalty of up to 300 dollars per violation, or up to 500 dollars for a repeat violation, and a municipality may designate an ordinance violation, or a state criminal offense punishable only by a fine, as a municipal infraction rather than a crime. A person cannot be prosecuted for the same act under both a municipal infraction ordinance and the state law criminal offense it is based on. An enforcement officer issues a civil citation naming the defendant, the infraction, its location and time, the penalty sought, and the court appearance date, rather than filing a criminal charge. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/