DISPROPORTIONATE PUNISHMENTS AS HUMAN DIGNITY VIOLATING PUNISHMENTS

Disproportionate punishments are punishments passed or enforced without considering the criteria of proportionality, namely the criteria of harm done, the absolute or relative seriousness of crimes, the kind of committed crime and offender characteristics, the degree and kind of victim culpability. Considering the penological aims, such as retribution, rehabilitation, deterrence and securing social defense, as a part of proportionality tests, is contrary to the rationale of proportionality. The main cause of the prohibition of disproportionate punishments in the international, and, national human right's documents is the proscription of using human being as a means to an end aiming at the heart of human dignity. In Iranian legal system, there are no clear rules and regulations about the prohibition of this kind of punishments and the determined punishments in many penal codes, arent compatible with the standards of proportionality. This article explores the principal criteria of proportionality, the concept of disproportionate punishments an their contraction with human dignity.