2. Definitions, purposes, and rationale of
criminal sentencing
 Brief notes about sentencing in our
model countries
 Opening to discussion on the global
death penalty and workshop


3. Mandatory sentencing: Sentence
prescribed in law without discretion for
sentencing authority
 Discretionary sentencing: Sentencing
authority can tailor sentence to
circumstances of crime or offender

› This difference is a spectrum; discretion can be
limited or guided by statute (mandatory
minimums, etc.)
› Weigh competing goals of sentencing uniformity
and consistency and the risk of overpunishment

4. 
Retribution
› Punish offenders in proportion to their offense (“just
deserts,” Old English: “that which is deserved”)

Deterrence
› One less likely to commit crime if one saw harshness
of punishment

Isolation
› Premise that society must be protected from
dangerous and violent offenders

Rehabilitation
› Goal of eventually reintegrating offender into
society; divert offender from traditional punishment

5. 
Every society attempts to reconcile these
aims differently, as they are culturally
and historically contingent
› For instance: Japan focuses heavily on
rehabilitation, while Saudi Arabia focuses
heavily on retribution

6. 
England
› Judicial sentencing discretion: About a century
old. Consider circumstances of criminal and
offense and tailor punishment
› Increasingly committed to rehabilitation as an
aim of criminal sentencing since 1970s on the
theory that it is a cost savings for society

France
› Délits (minor violations), contraventions
(misdemeanors), felonies: three levels of
offenses, each with different sentencing aims
› Move away from imprisonment (too costly)
toward alternative sentencing schemes

7. 
China
› Traditional tension between retribution and
rehabilitation (Confucian v. Legalist views)
› Emphasis on administrative punishments for lesser
violations, to educate population as to what is legal
and illegal
› Use of forced labor as sanction
› 90% of the world’s executions

Japan
› Main concern: How will a criminal punishment benefit
society?
› Procurators have very wide discretion in choosing a
sanction or not prosecuting at all
› Emphasis on rehabilitation; close-knit society ensures
that social isolation, and not corporal punishment, is
most effective

8. 
Saudi Arabia
› One of the most retributivist legal systems in
the world
› Resisted demands for reform; belief that
Islamic law is fundamentally different from
Western law
› In general: Perpetrator can be harmed in
same manner and to same degree as
victim, unless pardoned or forgiven by victim

10. What regional patterns appear from the
preceding map?
 Why do you think these countries still use
the death penalty? Is it for the same
reasons?
 Is there a correlation between
wealth/economic development and
death penalty retention?
