Pennsylvania Consolidated & Unconsolidated Statutes
Chapter 1 - General Provisions
Section 104 - Purposes

The general purposes of this title are:
(1) To forbid and prevent conduct that unjustifiably inflicts or threatens substantial harm to individual or public interest.
(2) To safeguard conduct that is without fault from condemnation as criminal.
(3) To safeguard offenders against excessive, disproportionate or arbitrary punishment.
(4) To give fair warning of the nature of the conduct declared to constitute an offense, and of the sentences that may be imposed on conviction of an offense.
(5) To differentiate on reasonable grounds between serious and minor offenses, and to differentiate among offenders with a view to a just individualization in their treatment.

Structure Pennsylvania Consolidated & Unconsolidated Statutes