The Principle of Proportionality
The book applies the principle of proportionality to a number of conventional wisdoms in the social sciences, such as in dubio pro reo and the assumption that a crime is always a crime; that you must go to war if instructed to do so. Individuals and
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For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/10164
Peter Hulsroj
The Principle of Proportionality
13
Peter Hulsroj Hornbaek Denmark
ISSN 2192-855X ISSN 2192-8568 (electronic) ISBN 978-94-007-5774-5 ISBN 978-94-007-5775-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-5775-2 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London
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Preface
I started to think about proportionality in a normative sense many years ago when I read about a US case where two Vietnam veterans had robbed a bank with great brutality, using semi-automatic weapons. The defence pleaded for acquittal, arguing that the actions had been a result of post-traumatic stress, caused by war-time experiences. The implication of the plea was supposedly that they should go free as they were not guilty in the normal sense of culpability. Detention in some institution for the criminally insane seemed not to be suggested. The defence failed, and yet for me the case put in the spotlight how society in criminal law is centred only on the relationship between state and accused, and tends to downplay the consequence of acquittal for possible future victims. Proportionality seemed partly wrongly anchored
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