Abstract
. The Criminal Code contains special higher penalty rates for repeat offenders. These contribute to one of the largest prison populations in Europe.
. These special penalty rates are inappropriate, as modern criminal law primarily punishes the offense and not the life of the offender. Although it is appropriate to punish repeat offenders a little more severely, setting special penalty rates for repeat offenders is not fair. Even without these rates, the law provides enough options to punish recidivists more severely.
. By abolishing these special penalty rates, the state would reduce the prison population by approximately one tenth and save approximately one billion crowns annually.
. A special case of special treatment for repeat offenders is repeat theft, where no harm needs to be done to become a crime, as a result of which petty acts are prosecuted.
. At least several hundreds of people are sentenced annually for thefts with damage up to CZK 1,000, while these are often trivial matters such as the theft of a few buns.
. Setting a minimum threshold even for repeated theft (e.g. CZK 1,000) would prevent excessive expansion of criminal repression and would save tens of millions of crowns annually.