Blackwell Reference Online

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As a topic, the legal enforcement of morality is usually taken to center on the question of whether a norm's status as a valid moral norm is sufficient to justify its enforcement through the criminal law. That question, in turn, is often phrased as the question of the legitimacy of “vice crimes” or “victimless crimes.” And, indeed, the principal focus of this chapter will be on precisely this question. It is necessary, however, to begin by setting aside some other issues that “the legal enforcement of morality” might suggest.First, the flip side of the question of whether immorality is sufficient for illegality is the very large question of whether immorality is necessary for illegality. Although many of the acts punished by the criminal law-for example, murder, rape, battery, theft, and reckless endangerment-are straightforwardly immoral, many other punishable acts are not. In the absence of the federal Internal Revenue Code, there is no moral norm that requires me to pay precisely 36 percent of my income to the federal government. In the absence of the California Motor Vehicle Code, there is no moral norm that requires me to drive no faster than 35 miles per hour on Sandburg Avenue. And, similarly, although many of the acts that are legal wrongs civilly rather than criminally are also immoral-for example, intentional breaches of contracts, certain torts, certain nuisances-many ... log in or subscribe to read full text