The Purposes of Criminal Law

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses John Stuart Mill's notion of criminal law's purpose, in relation to Patrick Devlin's paper, "Morals and the Criminal Law", which refers to the discouragement of human vice or subversive activities, as decided by the moral standards of a society. The paper makes reference to the early 21st century crack cocaine prostitution phenomenon in the West to demonstrate the strength of Devlin's approach extra refs course texts as provided.

From the Paper:

"The Purposes of Criminal Law - John Stuart Mill vs. Patrick Devlin. Introduction This paper discusses John Stuart Mill's notion of criminal law's purpose, in relation to Patrick Devlin's paper, "Morals and the Criminal Law", which refers to the discouragement of human vice or subversive activities, as decided by the moral standards of a society. (1965, 319) For John Stuart Mill, individuals were entitled to liberty as would encourage happiness, and only those threatening the well being of others in immoral, harmful practices, should be impeded. Devlin, however, shows a more instrumental approach to criminal law that can be seen to indicate our current understanding of criminality and criminal law in the present day, in North America."

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