The Sevenoaks School Journal of Philosophy - Volume Two APORIAii_digitalversion - Volume 2 | Page 15

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C EDRIC T AN
There is a distinction to be made between two forms of punishment: ret-
ributive and utilitarian forms of punishment. 11 We call a punishment retributive
as it punishes an action simply because it is wrong. However, this essay argues
for the idea of utilitarian punishment; a form of deterrence. Imposing a harsh
punishment is a preemptive action, to prevent the possibility of an unfavourable
outcome. The current system is tiered with the BAC level i.e. if your BAC is
higher, the punishment received is more severe. Subsequently, if harm is caused,
a much larger sentence is given. Moreover, the offense itself should be indefensi-
ble no matter the context to ensure that the punishment is not seen as weakly
enforced. 12
We make the case to punish the killer with the band of higher culpability
with up to 14 years in prison and a subsequent ban on driving along with a re-
quirement to take another driving test. 13 This was already increased from a max-
imum ban of 10 years in the previous traffic act 14 and should be increased incre-
mentally if there is no evident effect. This is our current system of punishment
for those who cause harm (retributive in a sense) but there is much more reason
to prevent this form of harm materialising. So, we must deter the act of driving
under the influence in the first place.
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APORIA: The Sevenoaks School Journal of Philosophy, Vol. II, Publication date: August 2018.