1. Many people believe that having a fixed punishment for all crimes is more efficient.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a fixed punishment?
Every country has different methods of crime dealings. It is believed by a majority of citizens that fixed punishment is a determined way for all types of violations. Nevertheless, this treatment possesses benefits as well as downsides.
A fixed sentence or punishing criminals with no considerations offers positive points for a country's jurisdiction. The first is that it is easier and not time-consuming in giving a sentence judgment. For instance, a court just quickly refers to the law to decide a penalty. Then, the law of fixed punishment prevents public revenge so that they cannot offend criminal as they will. Another benefit is that this principle of detention could deter criminals. Therefore, people will think twice to commit crimes because they know the consequences from the written law. Thus, fixed punishment as legal system delivers merits in ruling criminals.
On the other hand, there are also some drawbacks of this commandment. It will be unfair for people who commit a crime with different motives and scales. A case of a grandmother stealing three cocoa in Indonesia, for example, was a small violence with forgivable motive. She stole those cocoa in order to buy food for her starvation. It was injustice to punish her as severe as corruptors' punishment. In addition, it is likely possible to cause false judgment because of quick verdict that provided by fixed punishment. The case of U.S federal court issuing false victim Aarthi S. Rao in 2010 embodies this idea perfectly. Because of false judgment the victim nearly lost a half million dollar in that year. As a result of this, although unfortunate, the negative impacts of fixed punishment can be seen.
To conclude, it is clear that even though fixed sentence has positive ramifications, its applications in courtroom may draws unfairness. A serious awareness should be taken by both law makers and society to deal with the negative impacts that may be drawn from this authority.
