Term Paper on "Proportionality of Punishment"

Term Paper 3 pages (1110 words) Sources: 2

[EXCERPT] . . . .

punishment entails some standard of proportionality that calls for punishment to be impartial to the crime committed. Discussions of proportionality of punishment call for proportionality in the punishment and the punishable offense. The major objection to the principle of proportionality is the idea that no punishment is equivalent to the crime committed in an unjust society. This is because people always complain that particular sentences are too indulgent or too harsh for the crime committed. If punishment is to be measured to an offense, it severity and character must be determined through the crime for which it is inflicted. Similarly, if punishment is to be justified as to what a criminal deserves for a crime, it must be proportionate to the crime committed with considerations of the social setting. To ensure that a punishment is proportionate to the crime committed, punishment is offered in a way that is more reasonable to expect the punishment to be proportionate to the offense.

According to Hirsch (1992), the principle of proportionality is a fundamental need for fairness, and equity is sacrificed when the proportionality principle is ignored. This principle provides that sanctions be proportionate in their sternness to the seriousness of crimes. People believe that punishments given according to the gravity of crimes are fairer. In setting the proportions of sanctions to crime, Hirsch draws a significant difference amid ordinal and cardinal proportionality. The ordinal extent of a punishment demonstrates how an offense is reproachable in comparison to akin criminal actions, and compared to other offenses of a less or more serious temperament. Cardinal extent entails the affixing penalties scale as whole through fixing the total sternness levels for at least some offenses. Ordinal proportionality entails the internal punishment levels in the system of sentencing while cardinal proportionality fixes the external limits, the maxima and minima, that is allowed.

According to Hirsch (1992), the principle of proportionality avoids extremes of leniency or severity. However, this principle does not indicate how much a criminal deserves, but rather suggests giving lower and upper limits beyond which punishment would be undeserved. According to these limits, punishment administration depends on the probability of the offender committing other offenses. With respect to the ordinal and cardinal proportionality, it is hard to guarantee that a punishment is proportionate to the offense for which it is imposed. This is because two offenders can perpetrate two equally reprehensible offenses, but the two present different extents of danger; hence, the two individuals receive different punishments for committing similar crimes given that one receives a punishment on the upper limit and the other on the lower unit. Some punishments are set in relation to each other. People convicted of crimes of relative seriousness get punishments of comparable severity, but there are boundaries on sanction severity, which comprises the limits of cardinal proportionality.

The cardinal and ordinal differences offers the solutions to dilemma encountered in providing punishments to offenders. According to Hirsch (1992), there are no uniquely deserved punishments and the proportionate punishment for a particular offense is based on how the penalty scale is anchored and the manner in which other offenses are punished. Punishment is given based on the extent of the offenders' knowledge, purposefulness, carelessness or indifference to upshots. Crime punishment based on their level of gravity leads to incorrect judgment. This is because… READ MORE

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