Abstract:
Individualization of punishment is one of the tools of criminal justice that has attracted the attention of justice seekers in recent centuries. It is a phenomenon that punishment has reached during its evolutionary life, and it pursues a goal that the freedom seekers, in contrast to the unlimited cruelty and atrocities that were allowed to criminals; They followed it in response to their call. Individualizing the punishment means; Adopting a criminal measure suitable to the real personality of the criminal, which requires the knowledge of the real personality of the perpetrator of the crime by experts and specialists of various sciences, the exact knowledge of the personality of the criminal, which the judge can achieve by creating a personality file and obtaining expert opinions from experts in different sciences and considering it in the personality file. It helps him to take the best measure in dealing with the criminal by knowing the various influencing factors in the criminal phenomenon and determining the contribution of each of these factors and the contribution of the free will of the perpetrator to the motives of committing the crime; So that he can reform and rehabilitate the criminal and return him to the arms of society and family.
Machine summary:
Therefore, the meaning of individualization of punishment is that, while observing the principle of legality and the personal nature of punishment, the judge can, by taking into account the social, physical, and psychological circumstances of the offender, determine different punishments for multiple offenders who have committed a single crime.
Perhaps the expression of this phrase from Beccaria's language leads us to the boundaries of the perception that he, with extreme bias toward the principle of legality of crimes and punishments, sought to completely close the cracks of hope in the expansion and implementation of the principle of individualization of punishments; however, this perception comes closer to reality upon studying the works of Iranian jurists who believe that Beccaria's ideas created the Penal Code of 1791, which established the system of fixed punishments; because in this law, the nature and amount of punishments were previously determined and the discretion of judges was completely limited; since the judge merely engaged in the execution of predetermined punishments without being able to influence the amount of punishments based on personal differences.
In this way, towards the individualization of punishments, the judge must possess such discretion that they can determine and apply a proportionate punishment according to the circumstances and situation of each offender, which will not be possible except by turning away from the principle of legality of crime and punishment; because if a criminal is punished only based on the act they have committed and the legal article, there is a danger that the punishment may be inappropriate for their personality and inclinations, or contain excessive severity or leniency (Dadban, 1365: 19).
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