Self-study
P1
Many legal theorists have argued that the only morally legitimate goal in imposing criminal penalties against certain behaviors is to prevent people from harming others. ████████ ████ █████████ █████ ██████ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ██ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ ████████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██████ █████ ███
Legal theorists' perspective ·
The only morally legitimate goal in criminal penalties is to prevent harm
Under this theory, we shouldn't have laws that force people to act only in order to conform to some social norm.
Main point ·
Harm prevention goal justifies punishing some non-conforming behavior that it initially might not seem to justify
P2
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Example 1 ·
Lack of coordination can be harmful, so harm-prevention goal can justify coordination
Example: Conventions about which side of the road to drive on. Having a rule that everyone follows is better than no rule, because coordination will prevent harm.
P3
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Example 2 ·
Harm-prevention goal can also justify coordination in cases where harm goes beyond lack of coordination
Example: Rule against athletes using steroids. If this rule didn't exist, some athletes would use steroids and get an advantage. This forces other athletes to use steroids or lose competitions. So some people's freedom to use steroids ends up harming other athletes. Rule against steroids is in everyone's interest.
Passage Style
Single position
26.
Which one of the following ██ █ ████ ████ █████████ █████████ █ ███████ ██ ████████████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████████
a
a rule requiring ████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ █████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██████ ██████████ ████ █████ ██████████
This isn’t a problem of pure coordination. If people don’t get permission before digging, it could conceivably cause harm, but the possibility of harm doesn’t stem purely from the fact that people aren’t all behaving the same way. It would stem from a lack of consent and oversight.
b
a rule requiring ████ ███████████ ████████ ███████ █████ ██ ███████████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ ███████████ ██████████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████
This isn’t a problem of pure coordination. If pharmacists give out medications by customer request, it could conceivably cause harm, but the possibility of harm doesn’t stem purely from the fact that pharmacists aren’t all behaving the same way. It would stem from unsafe medication use and inappropriate treatments.
c
a rule requiring ████ ███████████ ██ ████ ██ ████████████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ███████████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██████ ████████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ █████████
This isn’t a problem of pure coordination. If advertisers make unsubstantiated claims, it could conceivably cause harm, but the possibility of harm doesn’t stem purely from the fact that advertisers aren’t all behaving the same way. It would stem from the spread of false and misleading information.
d
a rule requiring ████ █████████ ██ █ ███████ ██████████ ███ ████ █████████ ████████ ██████ █████ █████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ████████ ███████ ████ ██████
It’s not clear that this rule prevents any harm. If employees wear different clothes, would there be a risk of harm? This rule just addresses an employer’s preference, rather than protecting people from harm.
e
a rule requiring █████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██ █████████ █████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ ██████ ████
This is a problem of pure coordination, like the traffic example. If pilots don’t agree on which altitudes to fly at and when, it could pose a safety risk. And that possibility of harm stems purely from the fact that pilots aren’t all behaving the same way.