POLB92H3 Final: PHLB11 Full Final Exam Material
Document Summary
The wolfenden report: criminality and criminal punishment, report sought to address legal status of homosexuality and prostitution, at the time homosexuality was a crime and 1000 mean where in jail for it, report recommended it was decriminalized, implemented 10 years later, the law"s function is to preserve public order and decency, not to intervene in the private life of citizens, or to seek to enforce any particular pattern of behavior. Immorality doesn"t equal illegality, must be exploitative and corruptive: mill"s harm principle, too much is illegal , actions that harm others are criminal but immoral actions are harmless, mill"s argument of the harm principle increasing well being ties in with his philosophy on utilitarianism, devlin thought too much was legal , there is no private sphere of immorality that the state should not interfere with, the report implies the purpose of the criminal law is to protect citizens from harm and exploitation.