IMPOSING A SENTENCE IN CASE OF CUMULATIVE CRIMES

Abstract

Following the principles laid in foundation of Criminal Code adopted in 1960 Georgian legal scholars have always been very cautious to issues of criminal punishment. Remembering bloody consequences of soviet repressions, they always tried to follow the principle of proportionality. So did the legislature. Criminal Code of Georgia adopted in 1999 was largely based on that principle. Yet, in 2004 Georgian Parliament declared policy of zero tolerance which led to number of legislative innovations. Rules on imposing a sentence in case of cumulative crimes were substantially affected. Despite high expectations in just eight years it became apparent that something went wrong. In 2012 newly elected Parliament faced a necessity to declare a significant amnesty for vast number of prisoners and rethink the policy overall. Present article attempts to analyze these legislative tendencies through the prism of theories of goals of punishment. Author argues that above mentioned issues were mostly consequence of superficial approach to the subject. The chase for statistics made government less mindful towards fundamental categories of criminal punishment. Namely, the goal of restoration of justice was almost entirely sacrificed for the sake of general prevention while special prevention was to a great extent misinterpreted as well. In 2013, thanks to further legislative innovations, general radicalism was largely overcome, but there is still much room for improvement.