109 Chhannu Lal Verma), in light of the 262nd Law Commission Report, evolving jurisprudence, public discourse and international standards of human rights, is outside the purview of this court’s jurisdiction given the constitutional bench decision in Bachan Singh, and a question best left for the legislature to critically consider. In this backdrop, what this court can do, is try and bolster the existing sentencing framework. This is possible only by giving true meaning to the existing guidelines (without falling into the trap of ‘categorising’ crimes that automatically warrant death penalty). To do so, this court finds it necessary to lay out certain practical guidelines (elaborated below) that can facilitate consideration of mitigating circumstances as recognised in Bachan Singh, and consequently ensure uniform application of this framework. 203. The 262nd Report recognised the paradigm shift, in policy and discourse, towards a reformative and rehabilitative response to crime, and the development of jurisprudence such that adjudging a case to be ‘rarest of rare’ was not sufficient, and special emphasis had to be placed in considering whether the offender is amenable to reform. Implicit in this shift is the understanding that the criminal is not a product of only their own decisions, but also a product of the state and society’s failing, which is what entitles the accused to a chance of reformation. Thus, making life imprisonment the norm, and death penalty the exception. In, Lehna v. State of Haryana109 while deciding whether the facts in that case were appropriate for death penalty, traced this shift in approach: “14. ..Section 302 IPC prescribes death or life imprisonment as the penalty for murder. While doing so, the Code instructs the court as to its application. The changes which the Code has undergone in the last three decades clearly indicate that Parliament is taking note of contemporary criminological thought and movement. It is not difficult to discern that in the Code, there is a definite swing towards life imprisonment. Death sentence is ordinarily ruled out and can only be imposed for “special reasons”, as provided in Section 354(3). There is another provision in the Code which also uses the significant expression “special reason”. It is Section 361. Section 360 of the 1973 Code re-enacts, in substance, Section 562 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1898 (in short “the old Code”). Section 361 which is a new provision in the Code makes it mandatory for the court to record “special reasons” for not applying the provisions of Section 360. Section 361 thus 109 (2002) 3 SCC 76