Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
If the fine is not at a minimum a multiple of the value of the goods obtained, it is in no way whatsoever a punishment. If I only got fined $500 for downloading $1000 of material illegally, I would have profited from my actions. And it needs to be a high multiple to act as deterrent. There would be no point in the bus company only fining people £10 for evading a £5 fare - people would just think "oh, it's worth the risk", and not pay.
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We might have to agree to disagree then. I don't happen to think the value of the goods should be the primary parameter, and certainly not the sole parameter for determining the amount of the fine levied. If you do tie it to the value of the goods there must be a cap. I threw out $1000 earlier. I think a fine of much beyond that would be cruel and unusual punishment, as we say in the States.
Your argument about the supposed deterrent value is very nebulous, since there is no way to quantify what would deter an individual from engaging in a certain misdeed, and the threshold of deterrence would almost certainly vary widely from person to person. And then there is the fact that studies have shown that the death penalty, for example, has little if any deterrent value:
http://www.deathpenalty.org/download...eStudy2009.pdf