Some people believe that there should be fixed punishments for each type of crime. Others, however, argue that the circumstances of an individual crime, and the motivation for committing it, should always be taken into account when deciding on the punishment. Discuss both these views and give your opinion.

Sentencing a guilty with a suitable punishment is of utmost importance in maintaining law and order in a society. Some people propose that for each type of charge, there must be a specific sentence, but others believe that it should be adjusted according to the background situation and the motive. I will elucidate both of these opinions in

this

essay, but I side with the former opinion because it helps in creating a sense of equality in a society. In many countries of the world, specific duration and type of penalising for each crime has been written in the form of laws, which comprise their justice system. So, it provides a sense of equality to the people, that whether the accused is wealthy or poor, he/she will be dealt equally. It

also

removes the prospect of using different means to alter the judgement.

For instance

, the famous drug lords of Columbia used to bribe and frighten the police and the judges in order to modify the degree of punishment for their crimes.

On the other hand

, some people hold a view that the motive and the background situation behind each criminal activity is different. An accused might have certain reasons for his involvement in a crime. To illustrate, if a person robs an edible item from a small shop because his children were hungry,

then

it would be quite opposite to the crimes of a professional thief or deceit.

Hence

, in some instances, a sentence could be modified based on the background scenarios,

however

, it could lead to chronic criminals using different new techniques for their criminal intentions. To sum up, I will agree with the idea that there must be a fixed and equal punishment for each type of crime because it would prevail a sense of equality and remove any possibility of alteration of judgement by using different means.