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 own opinion.

It is argued whether the punishments for any criminal act should be based on the motives behind it and the circumstances involved or should be pre-decided for each category.

While

defining

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punishment for each kind of

crime

seems logical from the aspect of a judiciary, I believe it is more important to stay flexible and look at the degree of the

crime

before deciding the punishment in order to be fair to the victim. On the one hand, it makes sense for the legislative authorities to assign punishments for each type of

crime

. Without

this

bifurcation, things may look bizarre. It would give a

hierarchial

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view to the public; minor thefts would get fined or a terminal jail,

whereas

terrorist activities like the one which happened on 9/11 would lead to direct

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or

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life imprisonment.

On the other hand

, looking at the degree of the act is extremely important. Consider a sexual assault

for instance

. Within

this

category, there are heinous sub-categories which lead to grave mental and physical damage to the victims and their families. In

such

cases, it is only fair that the assaulters are subjected to forms of punishment worse than usual. The other way around is

also

true. If a minor theft was conducted by a teenager from a poor family out of starvation,

then

it should not be fined like other critical thefts, infact ways must be discovered to instil value among them and provide for resources.

For example

, in 2014, an incident by the name of “Nirbhaya” became infamous globally because of the nature of the gang assault committed against a college student. People came out on

streets

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protesting and demanding maximum

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for the convicts, which ultimately led to a change in law for

such

crimes. In conclusion,

although

assigning the punishments as per the type of offence may look logical, I firmly believe it is only fair to the victims and their families that the situation, cause, and degree of the

crime

is looked into.