EXCESSIVE CRIMINAL PUNISHMENT AMOUNTS TO PUNISHING THE INNOCENT: AN ARGUMENT FOR TAKING THE PARSIMONY PRINCIPLE SERIOUSLY MIRKO BAGARIC,VICTORIA LAMBROPOLOUS, & LIDIA XYNAS*
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 2
1.
II.
THE CURRENT ROLE OF PARSIMONY IN SENTENCING .................... 8
A . United States ........................................................................... B . A ustralia................................................................................ III. IV.
V.
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THE JUSTIFICATION FOR THE PARSIMONY PRINCIPLE: STOP PUNISHING THE INNOCENT ........................................................... 22 INJECTING CONTENT INTO THE PARSIMONY PRINCIPLE .................. 25
A. Overview of Sentencing Objectives....................................... B. Specific DeterrenceDoes Not Work .................................... C. Absolute General Deterrence Works; Marginal General Deterrenceis a Myth ........................................................... D. The Jury is Still Out on Rehabilitation.................................. E. IncapacitationWorks for Serious Sexual and Violent Offenders.............................................................................. F. Injecting Content into the ProportionalityPrinciple: Well-Being as the Common Thread...................................... G. Legislative Change DesirableBut Not Essential to Implement ParsimonyPrinciple...........................................
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CONCLUDING REMARKS ...............................................................
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ABSTRACT
Punishing the innocent is incontestably repugnant. Punishing offenders more harshly than is justified is a form of punishing the innocent, yet this practice is commonplace in the United States. This Article sets out a normative argument in favor of less severe penalties for many forms of offenses. There is already an established principle, which limits punishment to the minimum amount of hardship that is required to achieve the objectives of sentencing. The principle is termed "parsimony" and is widely * Mirko Bagaric is a professor at Deakin Law School in Melbourne, Australia. Victoria
Lambropolous is a senior lecturer at Deakin Law School. Lidia Xynas is a associate professor at Victoria University Law School in Melbourne, Australia.