The Right to Be Punished

Does an offender have the right to be punished? 'The right to be punished' may sound like an oxymoron, but it is not necessarily so. With the emergence of modern criminal law, the offender gained the right to be punished by rational criminal law rather than being lynched by an angry mob. The present-day offender may have the right to be punished by doctrinal sentencing rather than being subjected to verdicts based on vague, unclear, and uncertain principles. In modern criminal law, the imposition of criminal liability follows accurate and strict rules, whereas there are no similar rules for the imposition of punishment. The process of sentencing is vague and obscure, as are the considerations used for the imposition of punishments. The objective of the present book is to propose a comprehensive, general, and legally sophisticated theory of modern doctrinal sentencing. The challenges of such a legal theory are plenty and complex. In addition to increasing clarity and certainty, modern doctrinal sentencing must deal with modern types of delinquency (e.g. organized crime, recidivism, corporate offenders, high-tech offenses, etc.) and modern principles of criminal law. Modern doctrinal sentencing must serve to ensure optimal sentencing.

Gabriel Hallevy is professor of criminal law and criminal justice at the Faculty of Law, Ono Academic College, the largest faculty of law in Israel. He earned his LL.B. magna cum laude from Tel-Aviv University, and was on the Dean's List. He earned his LL.M. magna cum laude from Tel-Aviv University, and his Ph.D. summa cum laude from the University of Haifa. One year after obtaining his Ph.D. degree, he was promoted to Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor), and less than three years later, at age 37, to Professor. He was a visiting professor in the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law (2007-2009), and Editor in Chief of the Ono Academic College Law Review. Professor Hallevy is currently a member of the editorial board of 6 international law reviews.
In 2007 Professor Hallevy was granted a special honorary prize by the Knesset (the highest academic prize in Israel) for the research in criminal law. He has over 50 publications in English, French, German, and Hebrew (12 books and numerous articles published or accepted for publication in prestigious law reviews, including those of Harvard, Cardozo, Akron, Alabama, Syracuse, Pepperdine, Northwestern University, American University, and others. He is frequently cited in the Israeli Supreme Court, which has embraced most of his original ideas in criminal law (e.g., the conspiracy test in the law of complicity, the interpretation model of the criminal norm, the proposed insanity test, and many more). He is the author of the most popular textbook in criminal law in Israel (four volumes, over 4,000 pages) and of the most popular textbook in criminal justice in Israel (four volumes, over 3,000 pages).
Professor Hallevy speaks English, French, German, and Hebrew.