Law 2101 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Peer Pressure, Centralisation, Social Theory
Document Summary
Between political community, the state, the people, and the defendant. Instrument of both social control and control of governmental power. Limiting and protecting freedom at the same time. Tool of public order and control deviant social behaviour. Canalize and circumscribe the application of coercive measures and punishment in legally determined channels that respect basic human rights. Boundaries of criminal law not fixed but socially, historically, and politically determined: the minimalist principle. Minimalist principle: criminal law should be used as ultima ratio, the last resort. Other resorts: morality, social convention, peer pressure, civil and administrative law: the principle of individual autonomy. Individual autonomy: citizens should be free from undue state powers in making their own choices. Limits the creation of offenses based on paternalistic grounds: the principle of welfare. Principle of welfare: giving weight to collective goals and interests. Autonomy and welfare not opposites, but connected and interdependent: the harm principle.
