CRIMINAL LAW
Criminal Law
A particular social construction of, and response to, ‘deviance’ and ‘wrongdoing’
Who decides what is criminal? Parliament (statute) and Judges (common law)
Are they representative of No, only one woman in the HOL and most MPs are white
society?
Morality:
Politics and morality are applied when there is a question of how a rule should be applied and to
whom
What is immoral is not always the same as what is criminal - EG: mother who steals to feed kids
These Moral-philosophical theories are used to explain/justify criminalisation:
Harm Principle: Only when someone does harm to others should they be punished.
Harm to self shouldn’t be punished
- EG: suicide is not an offence
Legal Paternalism: The view that it is permissible for the state to legislate against ‘self-
regarding actions’ when necessary to prevent individuals from inflicting
physical or severe emotional harm on themselves
- EG: cases of sexual offences on children
The law should look after us like a parent would
Offence Principle/ The law can legitimately be used to prohibit behaviours that conflict with
Legal Moralism: society’s moral judgements even when those behaviours don’t result in
physical or psychological harm to others
- EG: criminalising homosexuality, banning the Niqab in France
Justification for Criminalisation:
Deterrent?
- Hard to measure (we don’t know how many crimes would have been committed had there been
no law against it)
- There are conflicting views on ‘effectiveness’ of criminal law as deterrent
Effects of criminalisation?
Constructing social values – if something is illegal it will affect our social values
Stigma – of being convicted of a crime
The strong arm of the state (police, prison system)
Constructs people as either ‘victims’ or ‘perpetrators’
Upholding prevailing structures and power relations
Alternatives to criminalisation?
- Abolitionism: community justice, meditation, transformative justice
Who is Who in Criminal Law?
Criminal Law
A particular social construction of, and response to, ‘deviance’ and ‘wrongdoing’
Who decides what is criminal? Parliament (statute) and Judges (common law)
Are they representative of No, only one woman in the HOL and most MPs are white
society?
Morality:
Politics and morality are applied when there is a question of how a rule should be applied and to
whom
What is immoral is not always the same as what is criminal - EG: mother who steals to feed kids
These Moral-philosophical theories are used to explain/justify criminalisation:
Harm Principle: Only when someone does harm to others should they be punished.
Harm to self shouldn’t be punished
- EG: suicide is not an offence
Legal Paternalism: The view that it is permissible for the state to legislate against ‘self-
regarding actions’ when necessary to prevent individuals from inflicting
physical or severe emotional harm on themselves
- EG: cases of sexual offences on children
The law should look after us like a parent would
Offence Principle/ The law can legitimately be used to prohibit behaviours that conflict with
Legal Moralism: society’s moral judgements even when those behaviours don’t result in
physical or psychological harm to others
- EG: criminalising homosexuality, banning the Niqab in France
Justification for Criminalisation:
Deterrent?
- Hard to measure (we don’t know how many crimes would have been committed had there been
no law against it)
- There are conflicting views on ‘effectiveness’ of criminal law as deterrent
Effects of criminalisation?
Constructing social values – if something is illegal it will affect our social values
Stigma – of being convicted of a crime
The strong arm of the state (police, prison system)
Constructs people as either ‘victims’ or ‘perpetrators’
Upholding prevailing structures and power relations
Alternatives to criminalisation?
- Abolitionism: community justice, meditation, transformative justice
Who is Who in Criminal Law?
