Chriminal law and ethics

Ethics and Criminal Law

Amongst the questions on this issue are the following:

Is the institution of the criminal sanction morally justified?
Should the punishment reflect the seriousness of the crime or the risk posed by the criminal?
Can the preventive detention of dangerous offenders be justified?
Is strict liability in the criminal law always wrong?
What should be the standard of care when criminal liability is imposed for negligence?
Is there anything wrong with constructive criminal liability?
Ought mistakes about the law provide an excuse from criminal liability?
Does mental illness reduce or negative moral culpability? Should it excuse from criminal liability?
When is a child morally culpable, and when should s/he be held criminally liable?
Does it make sense to blame companies? Should corporations be capable of incurring criminal liability? If so, when?
Does Duress (or compliance with superior orders) reduce or negative moral culpability? Should it ever excuse from criminal liability?
Is civil disobedience ever morally justified?
Are there “political crimes” ? To what extent (if at all) should the punitive response to them differ from the punitive response to ordinary crimes?
Can discretion in prosecuting (or sentencing) be morally justified?
Is it wrong for a person to harm, or run the risk of harming, himself?
What is wrong with drug-taking?
Is killing always harmful?
Is killing worse than letting die?
Is the distinction between acts and omissions “morally and intellectually dubious” ?
Can killing a human being ever be morally justified?
When ought a person to try to prevent harm? When should s/he be criminally liable for not doing so?
Do animals have rights, and if so, how should the criminal law protect them?
Can the criminalisation of fox-hunting be justified?
When, and why, is it wrong to cause damage to the natural environment )or the historical heritage)?
Should the law criminalise and punish offensive as well as harmful conduct?
Is pornography wrong? If so, should the criminal law prohibit it?
Should blasphemy be a crime, and if so, in what circumstances?
Should consent of the victim always provide a defence?

Further reading:

The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law by Joel Feinberg (4 vols.; New York and Oxford 1984-88),
the journal Criminal Justice Ethics.

Conclusion

Notes

See Also

References and Further Reading

About the Author/s and Reviewer/s

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Duress.


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