ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the second aspect of the distribution of punishment, namely the determination of the quality and quantity of punishment, and follows a similar path to the previous chapter on criminal responsibility. In a first step, I clarify the meaning of the principles defended by Hart regarding the quantity and the quality of punishment, namely ordinal proportionality (maximum penalties should be proportional), humanity (no one shall be subjected to inhuman or degrading punishment), equality of treatment (treat like cases alike) and individualization of punishment (sentences should be individualized without exceeding the maximum penalty). I stress that some principles apply at the legislative level, others at the judicial level. In a second step, I examine Hart’s pluralist justification of these principles and his opposition to utilitarian monism. Throughout the chapter, I place particular emphasis on the principle of proportionality: indeed, it poses many conceptual problems, and its justification by Hart is ambiguous.
