Commensurate Desert
Von Hirsch is one of the major contributors to modern retributive theory. Distinct from Kant's "eye for an eye," Von Hirsch asserts that crimes should be punished proportionately to the seriousness of the crime committed; this having priority over the utilitarian concerns about crime prevention. For example, theft should be punished more severely than speeding because it is morally more reprehensible; this would be true even if studies proved we might save more lives by punishing speeding more severely than theft.
Read more about this topic: Andrew Von Hirsch
Famous quotes containing the words commensurate and/or desert:
“The great object of Education should be commensurate with the object of life. It should be a moral one; to teach self-trust: to inspire the youthful man with an interest in himself; with a curiosity touching his own nature; to acquaint him with the resources of his mind, and to teach him that there is all his strength, and to inflame him with a piety towards the Grand Mind in which he lives. Thus would education conspire with the Divine Providence.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise. Once and again one of those great influences which we call a Cause arises in the midst of a nation. Men of strenuous minds and high ideals come forward.... The attacks they sustain are more cruel than the collision of arms.... Friends desert and despise them.... They stand alone and oftentimes are made bitter by their isolation.... They are doing nothing less than defy public opinion, and shall they convert it by blows. Yes.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)