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Is this figure supposed to be independent of the level of crime and punishment?

As in

* better to let ten shoplifting schoolboys go than to give one a slap on the wrist; and

* better to let ten serial killers go than to execute an innocent person?

This is addressed somewhat in the essay. For example, it mentions that God and Roman emperor Trajan limit the maxim to capital punishment, but Blackstone considers his version to apply to all forms of punishment.

http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/guilty.htm#T37

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