Legal responses and sentencing in murder cases

A comparison of law and judicial reactions in India and Germany

verfasst von

Paromita Chattoraj, Bernd Dieter Meier

Abstract

While there are huge cultural, social and socio-legal differences between India and Germany, the sentencing laws of the two countries show a couple of similarities. In India and Germany alike, the substantive law makes only little specifications for the sentencing process. There are no sub-statutory sentencing guidelines, within the range provided by the penal codes the courts have a wide discretion in the sentencing process. It is, however, interesting to see that the courts exercise their discretion in similar ways which can specifically be observed in murder cases. The article describes the legal framework which is applicable in murder cases in India and Germany and compares the judicial decisions in selected cases: hold-up murder, sexually motivated murder, domestic violence killings and honor killings. The comparison gives evidence of the communicative function of punishment. After a serious crime like murder the public – typically well informed by the media, agitated and highly troubled – will in both countries only be settled by a judgment considered as fair, just and proportionate. Peace under the law and internal security, however, do not seem to be dependent on specific forms of punishment. Capital punishment and life imprisonment appear as penalties which may be necessary reactions to murder in a given cultural context, but which are not indispensable to a criminal justice system.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Lehrstuhl für Strafrecht, Strafprozessrecht und Kriminologie

Externe Organisation(en)

Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Criminal Law Forum

Band

29

Seiten

121-155

Anzahl der Seiten

35

ISSN

1046-8374

Publikationsdatum

03.2018

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Recht

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 5 – Gleichberechtigung der Geschlechter, SDG 16 – Frieden, Gerechtigkeit und starke Institutionen

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10609-017-9326-7 (Zugang: Geschlossen)