SOAN 2120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Law Abiding Citizen, Jeremy Bentham, Convenience Store

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology and Anthropology
• Course: SOAN 2120
• Professor: c

Document Summary

4 key principles between law and society 1st equality: the idea that everyone should be treated equally under the law. 2nd principle: liberty, people had right to protection of abuses of power from the state. 3rd principle: humanitarianism: punishment should be fair and humane. 4th : utilitarianism: radical, goal for society was to produce greatest happiness for greatest number of people, punishment should be useful, rather than retaliation. Choices are controlled by threat of punishment. Criminal justice system, must coincide with the cost/benefit calculation of potential offenders. For punishment to deter, it must be certain (predictable) Criminal justice system should work to eliminate discretion and arbitrariness. For punishment to deter, it must be fair (proportional) Not to avenge crime, just to make most number of people happy. Crime a: convenience store robbery; max life in prison. Crime b: trafficking cocaine; max life in prison.