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Dark Legacy of Zero Tolerance in Georgia (Criminal Punishment and Sentencing)

By Papuna Guruli

Law and World · Vol. 11, No. 34, pp. 7-16 · 2025

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Abstract

Following much-praised promises to reduce crime to zero Georgian Government in 2004 imposed a “zero tolerance” policy embodied in both criminal legislation and legal practice. The fateful phrase “No probation! Everybody to the prison!” explicitly indicated the way of thinking of government officials at that time. This, of course, primarily affected regulations on criminal punishment and sentencing. Unfortunately, the principle of proportionality was largely disregarded, and the goals of punishment were narrowed. In 2012, the new government faced all the consequences of such a one-sided approach – overcrowded prisons, massive human rights violations, etc. As expected, the policy was largely revised. Some radical regulations were repealed. For example, a judge was allowed to use absorption or partial addition of punishment when imposing a sentence in the case of cumulative crimes and cumulative sentences. Sadly, many instances of punishment, such as conditional sentence, imposing more lenient sentences than provided for by law, etc., remain unchanged, presenting the dark legacy of zero tolerance policy.

Details

Publication type
Journal article
Author
  • Papuna Guruli - Ph.D. in Law, Dean of the School of Humanities and Law, St. Andrew Georgian University, Georgia
Journal
Law and World
Publication
June 30, 2025
Volume
11
Issue
34
Pages
7-16
Language
English
DOI
10.36475/11.2.1
ISSN
2346-7916
Institutions
St. Andrew the First-Called Georgian University
Access
Open access
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Added to catalogue
Metadata source
Supplied by the publisher

Areas of law

Criminal Law

Keywords

punishment sentencing proportionality zero tolerance

Cite this record

Guruli, P. (2025). Dark Legacy of Zero Tolerance in Georgia (Criminal Punishment and Sentencing). Law and World, 11(34), 7-16. https://doi.org/10.36475/11.2.1
Guruli, Papuna. "Dark Legacy of Zero Tolerance in Georgia (Criminal Punishment and Sentencing)." Law and World 11, no. 34 (2025): 7-16. https://doi.org/10.36475/11.2.1.
@article{guruli2025_8999zk,
  title     = {Dark Legacy of Zero Tolerance in Georgia (Criminal Punishment and Sentencing)},
  author    = {Guruli, Papuna},
  year      = {2025},
  journal   = {Law and World},
  volume    = {11},
  number    = {34},
  pages     = {7--16},
  doi       = {10.36475/11.2.1},
  issn      = {2346-7916},
  language  = {en},
  url       = {https://lawandworld.ge/index.php/law/article/view/781},
  note      = {Open access}
}
Download BibTeX 
TY  - JOUR
AU  - Guruli, Papuna
TI  - Dark Legacy of Zero Tolerance in Georgia (Criminal Punishment and Sentencing)
PY  - 2025
JO  - Law and World
VL  - 11
IS  - 34
SN  - 2346-7916
DO  - 10.36475/11.2.1
LA  - en
UR  - https://lawandworld.ge/index.php/law/article/view/781
AB  - Following much-praised promises to reduce crime to zero Georgian Government in 2004 imposed a “zero tolerance” policy embodied in both criminal legislation and legal practice. The fateful phrase “No probation! Everybody to the prison!” explicitly indicated the way of thinking of government officials at that time. This, of course, primarily affected regulations on criminal punishment and sentencing. Unfortunately, the principle of proportionality was largely disregarded, and the goals of punishment were narrowed. In 2012, the new government faced all the consequences of such a one-sided approach – overcrowded prisons, massive human rights violations, etc. As expected, the policy was largely revised. Some radical regulations were repealed. For example, a judge was allowed to use absorption or partial addition of punishment when imposing a sentence in the case of cumulative crimes and cumulative sentences. Sadly, many instances of punishment, such as conditional sentence, imposing more lenient sentences than provided for by law, etc., remain unchanged, presenting the dark legacy of zero tolerance policy.
KW  - punishment
KW  - sentencing
KW  - proportionality
KW  - zero tolerance
KW  - სასჯელი
KW  - სასჯელის დანიშვნა
KW  - პროპორციულობა
KW  - ნულოვანი ტოლერანტობა
SP  - 7
EP  - 16
ER  -
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