The book defines and critically discusses the following five principles: the harm principle, legal paternalism, the offense principle, legal moralism and the dignity principle of criminalization. The book argues that all five principles raise important problems that point to rejections (or at least a rethink) of standard principles of criminalization.
Thomas Søbirk Petersen, PhD in Moral Philosophy (University of Copenhagen). Professor with special responsibilities in Ethics (University of Roskilde). Thomas is the author of several books and book contributions and has published in Journals such as: Bioethics, Criminal Law and Philosophy, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Journal of Happiness Studies, Journal of Medical Ethics, Neuroethics, Res Publica, Theoria. He is a member of the Danish Councils of Ethics.
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Harm and Criminalization: On Why Harm Principles Are Redundant.- Chapter 3: No Offense! On the Offense Principle and Some New Challenges.- Chapter 4: New Legal Moralism: Some Strengths and Challenges.- Chapter 5: On Dignity Principles of Criminalization: A Critical Discussion.- Chapter 6:A Soft Defence of a Utilitarian Principle of Criminalization.- Appendix: What is Well-being?.