Classification seems closer to hiérarchisation in this context

"Classification of penalties" shows up in searches (below)...the word "ranking" suggests that some penalties are better than others!

http://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/criminal-defe...

http://law.justia.com/nebraska/codes/s28index/s2801005000.ht...

maybe you could use scale - plenty of google hits for that

(but not publicly articulated) TARIFF SCALE constructed by the judiciary. .... only prison sentences for which sentencers do not, in effect, determine the ...
bjc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/24/3/250.pdf

UK prison governors to extend the sentences of prisoners who abuse ... the top end of the TARIFF SCALE, with the sentence to run after the ...
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/.../get-tough-on-fleeing-prisone...

It should also be noted that level of risk posed is not necessarily associated with the length of sentence. Domestic abuse, for example, can draw a relatively low TARIFF yet risks to partners and children can be extremely high. [ ... ] Whilst it is the case that not every prisoner released will require full supervision, it is likely that the majority of offenders, including those at the lowest end of the TARIFF SCALE, would benefit from an assessment of their wider welfare needs and, at the very least, signposting to provision – be it registering with a GP or accessing training. [ ... ] At the high end of the TARIFF SCALE, it should be noted that the impact which supervision can have on reducing further offending must be kept in perspective - more can be expected by the public and media than can realistically be achieved.
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/justic...

measures, such as the suspended prison sentence, .... the idea of a TARIFF SCALE of penalties and, in effect, creates a hierarchical sentenc ...
www.jstor.org/stable/20639393

We were hoping for a lengthier prison sentence which would have sent out the right ... The judge said Haydock fell at the bottom end of the TARIFF SCALE. ...
www.northamptonchron.co.uk/.../Mother-may-appeal-death-cras...

even the best run prisons continue to be ... Where on the TARIFF SCALE is the sentence to be located, or what shall ...
www.informaworld.com/index/910908372.pdf

The length of the sentence handed down would obviously depend upon ... can charge the suspect with an offence further up the TARIFF SCALE. ...
www.thesinner.net/mb/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31893

I believed this practice served us well for a long long time, and in view of this, never saw any need to install a TARIFF-SCALE on crime, ...
discuss.glasgowguide.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=6571&st=15

What is the function of a prison sentence? What is the purpose in maintaining such a large proportion of our community in prison? If anybody should choose to defend prison sentencing on grounds of retribution it would be difficult to argue with him, although even then I would invite hon. Members to have some regard to the appropriate TARIFF SCALE OF PUNISHMENT. May I illustrate what I mean by referring to women offenders. One-fifth of women who end up in prison are there on a shoplifting offence. The vast majority—something like 80 per cent. —of shoplifting offences involve amounts generally less than £5. Yet a proportion of these women offenders are in prison [ ... ] Even if a defence of the system is made on grounds of retribution one can observe the TARIFF SCALE and say that there is adequate ground for criticising many of the prison sentences which have been passed. [ ... ] The hon. Gentleman complained about the apparent for women shoplifters and said that it was disproportionate to the gravity of the offence which they committed. I do not agree. The tariff for women shoplifters almost entirely avoids the custodial sentence. Women are sent to prison for shoplifting offences only when they have repeatedly failed to learn the lesson
http://yourdemocracy.newstatesman.com/parliament/petition/HA...


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Note added at 4 hrs (2010-09-13 20:57:56 GMT)
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What good is a justice system if it doesn't deliver justice. We pay for courts, juries and parole boards to administer justice in our name. It is reasonable that the SCALE OF TARIFFS are in line with the broad expectations of the people but it is not proper for 'the people' to consulted about individual cases. People can't possibly know about all the details of a case to come to an informed decision about the punishment or whether a parole board's decision is right.
http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Uk/uk.legal/2009-07/...

And the final sentence about ‘a perverted moral calculus’ and ‘acceptable’ levels of killing is almost risible in its own perversity – while it might have resonance in an ideal world, it clearly argues against the idea that it is right to establish a SCALE OF TARIFFS when considering punishment, so that … what? All criminal acts (irrespective of gravity, circumstance, mitigation and the rest) should carry the same sentence? In the real world our legal system has formulated exactly such a calculus because not to do so would fly in the face of any notion of justice.
http://www.theliddells.com/gnome/g_01.htm

The Home Secretary goes head-to-head with the judiciary over his plans to bring in stricter SENTENCE TARIFFS for murderers ...
www.independent.co.uk › News › UK › Crime

Apparently, however "tariff" is no longer in fashion:
In England and Wales, life imprisonment is a sentence which lasts until the death of the prisoner, although in most cases the prisoner will be eligible for parole (officially termed "early release") after a fixed period set by the judge. This period is known as the "MINIMUM TERM" (previously known as the "TARIFF"). In some exceptionally grave cases however, a judge may order that a life sentence should mean life by making a "whole life order."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment_(England_and_...


Home Office is expected to return discretion to judges in setting minimum TARIFF for serious offenders, follows anger at Craig Sweeney, who kidnapped and sexually assaulted a child, likely to be freed in five years under current pre-set formula 09.11.06 BBC, Criminal Sentencing, Paedophilia, Sex Offences

Justice Moses 'demystifies' sentencing in explaining reasoning behind 40-year TARIFF imposed on Soham killer Ian Huntley, lack of remorse raised sentence, but lack of abduction or proof of sexual assualt reducing factors 30.09.05 BBC, Criminal Justice Links, Paedophilia Links

I am surprised, but "tariff" appears to be said in the US also. But how commonly?
Within this algebra, juvenile courts assume that young offenders similarly are not fully responsible for social behaviors, and their punishment is (at least in theory) discounted from adult TARIFFS.
http://www.juvenilejusticefoundation.com/files/Future of Chi...

It presents the findings of an empirical study of sentencing for perjury and perverting the course of justice and concludes that the UPPER END OF THE TARIFF is only imposed where the offences against justice were committed in circumstances involving murder or large-scale criminal corruption [ ... ] At the other end of the spectrum, recent increases in the SENTENCE TARIFF for those convicted of perverting the course of justice, through witness intimidation [ ... ] General SENTENCING TARIFF and range and “harm” of perjury and perverting the course of justice
http://www.buckingham.ac.uk/publicity/academics/articles/edw...

the TARIFFS (TIME TO BE SERVED ACTUALLY IN PRISON) for the worst murderers. .... prison officers, the probation service, the judiciary, etc. who will ...
www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/thought2.html

Maybe even just "tariff" can translate hiérarchisation des peines:
because of the way that cannabis SKEWS SENTENCING PATTERNS FOR DRUG OFFENCES DOWN TARIFF, and cautioning rates upwards. What the area ...
www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121405967/articletext?DOI=10...

But its most telling contribution is to analyse the increasing severity with which the courts dealt with crimes of violence and to explain how THE TARIFF OF PUNISHMENT was calibrated according to changing expectations of masculine behaviour. On the one hand, the brutal and excessive retribution of the early nineteenth century gave way to ‘rational’ punishment in the second half of the century; on the other hand, a much tighter definition was applied to capital crimes and other serious crimes of violence, with sentences to match, and the criminal propensities of men were placed under the public spotlight as never before
http://hwj.oxfordjournals.org/content/60/1/206.extract

"To examine the extent that the recommended penalties for different incidents of plagiarism were increased with the scale of the offence, we devised the Penalty Gradation Score (PGS)".

"Even in severity of punishment a misdemeanour may rank as high as a felony. The Criminal Statutes Consolidation Acts - the result of a series of commissions extending over thirty years - accomplished little more in the way of systematization than the introduction of greater exactitude into the definition of certain individual offences and the gradation of penalties. "