On The Efficiency Of Penalty

Efficiency means that the minimum of input achieves the maximum of output or that the greatest income can be gained from a given input by optimizing the resources ration. The efficiency of penalty means that through application to penalty by the State the least input of penalty resources chects crimes, and eliminates the bad consequences resulted from crimes. Penalty efficiency discloses the essence of penalty. There have emerged five doctrines in succession in the process of human beings understanding of the essence of penalty, namely, the doctrines of God punishment, of retribution, of utility, of teleology, and of eclecticism. The doctrine of God punishment held that the penalty had been endowed with by God to its agents - the State or Emperor who had the right to punish those who profaned God in human society. The doctrine of retribution believed that good will be rewarded with good and evil with evil, infered that the essence of penalty was the retribution of the crime. The doctrine of utility maintained that penalty was the effective deterrent means to prevent community members from committing crimes (this was a general prevention). The doctrine of teleology advocated that penalty was to prevent particular individuals from committing crimes (this was an individual prevention). The doctrine of eclecticism considered that penalty should essentially contain retribution and general and particular prevntions as well.The doctrine of God punishment is totally irrational while the other four doctrines are partly rational to a certain extent, but there are weak points in them. Penalty originates from crime which results from human demands which ultimately is the human beings' demands of material resources. Human beings tend to have infinite desire for the material resources which are finite in the world. Therefore, there appears an inconsistency between the finite material resources supply and the infinite human demands, which gives rise to the crime. It is impossible to change or eliminate or prevent this inconsistency completely. Transferring our study from crime and criminal to the relationship between crime and resources, we can find that efficiency makes the material resources to be used to a maximum extent, alleviates the inconsistency between the limited material resources and human beings' infinite demands so as to satisfy human beings' needs relatively, and to reduce crimes in quantity. Besides, compared with the relatively notable class nature, and the justice of different times, the content of efficiency is invariable and suitable for the development of mankind, playing a part in pushing the society forward. In conclusion, efficiency of penalty is a prime value in mankind society, it should be the essence of penalty, and the framework of a penalty system should be based on the essence of penalty.In order to achieve the efficiency of penalty, the key step is an appropriate input of penalty cost, optimizing the allocation of penalty cost resources. But the input of penalty cost can only restrains crimes. It doesn't necessarily prevent crimes. When the criminal's desire defeats the force of controlling crimes, the criminal will commit crime. The input of penalty cost can come into effect only on the condition that the force of restraining crimes beats the criminal's potential desire to make him or her give upthe chance of committing crime. In this circumstances, the optimizing input of penalty cost is to reduce the criminal's marginal penalty cost to marginal penalty proceeds. The deterrent force that the penalty cost can make consists of the deteririinacy and the severity of penalty that indicate two kinds of input of penalty cost. The best ration of the two kinds locates at the intersection between the curve of the most appropriate penalty cost and the isometric line of the deterrent force of penalty. In China, the realization of efficiency of penalty is restricted by external conditions. From the political point of view, it is affected by planned economy. The legislator is not aware of...