Criminal Wrongs and Moral Wrongs

Abstract This chapter defends the theoretical orientation of this book, which is that the state should not criminalize and punish morally innocent conduct. The school of thought that is commonly associated with this position is “legal moralism,” or the view that criminal wrongs and moral wrongs are closely related. This chapter explains what is meant by legal moralism in this book and defends it. In the process, this chapter also: (1) points out the ways in which criminal law is a distinctive mode of harm prevention involving a system where the government issues a set of rules and demands that the people to whom the rules apply comply with such rules; (2) rejects the desert theory of criminal law; (3) highlights the limits of the displacement of private vengeance theory of criminal law; and (4) defends the view that conviction and punishment of a person through the criminal process express censure or condemnation of what that person has done.