ABSTRACT
A common error working against social utility is to allow the judge, who is in charge of enforcing the law, to interpret the laws for imprisoning a citizen, to take away the liberty of an enemy for frivolous pretexts, or to leave unpunished a friend, despite the strongest evidence of guilt. Preventive detention in prison is a punishment that, quite different from every other punishment, must of necessity precede the finding of guilt. However, this special characteristic does not negate the other essential, which is that only the laws determine the cases in which a man should be punished. The place of punishment is the place of the crime because only there and nowhere else are men forced to act against a private person in order to prevent a public offence. Punishment must not only be proportionate to the force of the crimes, but also in the way it is inflicted.
