Dissertation
Dignity and criminal law
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Spring 2022
DOI: 10.25820/etd.006518
Abstract
ABSTRACT
One important requirement of criminal law is that it is able to be understood by individuals, so they are able to direct their behavior in order to avoid law’s punishment. At a minimum, this requires that the meaning of the terms used in law are used with consistency. Therefore, because I intend to give a limited description of criminal law, I first need to fully define how I use some important terms. Because my description is meant to be consistent with current law, I derive the meanings of these terms from their use in current western liberal jurisprudence and legal practice. The description I intend to give is an explanation of how criminal law purports to regulate individual behavior, primarily with the use of punishment, while simultaneously respecting individual dignity, two seemingly contradictory goals. It is an explanation in the limited sense that it both describes the workings of criminal law, and is also, at least sometimes, able to constrain current practices. This is so because, ‘dignity’, as used in law, refers to an inherent worth of individuals which entails recognition and respect. This, however, is not to say that the content of law, i.e., what parades as respect for individual dignity, is determined by the dignity of individuals, but rather, that law, in recognizing the worth of individuals commits itself to respecting this worth. What counts as respecting individual dignity depends on and is determined by other characteristics of the individual. Criminal law only punishes individuals who possess the capability of directing their behavior based on pertinent reasons; thus, one way in which law respects the worth of these individuals is by not interfering in their self-direction, at least without strong justification.
Western liberal law is often described as self-applied. That is, law consists of published behavioral norms and attached consequences with which individuals are expected to direct their behavior. The “regulation” of a law that is self-applied can only be explained by its ability to influence an individual’s choice of behavior. We can describe law as influencing (and thus regulating) behavior when an individual truthfully cites the law as the (or a) reason they complied with the norms contained in law. When the individual chooses to violate the norm, they are also choosing the consequence of that violation. The law can then be described as regulating behavior, i.e., it influences individual behavior by providing a reason to act in a certain way and can also be seen as respecting dignity because it honors their choice of behavior, and with it any attached consequences.
The worth of dignity and its entailed respect provides grounds for evaluations of criminal law and its practices. There are, of course, many other targets with which we evaluate law, e.g., justice, fairness, or its ability to influence behavior. The more fully a law respects individual dignity, the stronger is its justification for inclusion in a western liberal system of criminal law.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Dignity and criminal law
- Creators
- David Harlan Babcock
- Contributors
- Jovana Davidovic (Advisor)Asha Bhandary (Committee Member)Richard Fumerton (Committee Member)Paul Gowder (Committee Member)Diane Jeske (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Philosophy
- Date degree season
- Spring 2022
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- DOI
- 10.25820/etd.006518
- Number of pages
- vi, 103 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2022 David Harlan Babcock
- Language
- English
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 99-103).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
Dignity is often defined as the inherent worth of individual humans and the respect this worth requires from other humans, both as individuals and collectively. I begin this project by showing that this worth and respect are recognized by law, and criminal law, in the very way in which they use ‘dignity’. I then give an explanation of how criminal law is able to respect individuals with dignity, while simultaneously purporting to regulate individual behavior with the use of punishment, two seemingly contradictory goals.
I claim that statutes of criminal law can be seen as regulating an individual’s behavior by the influence they carry as reasons which individuals use in their deliberations when they are considering behaving in ways prohibited by law. It is only individuals who are capable of action (directing their behavior with reasons) that are held responsible and punished for their behavior. Because criminal laws tie a consequence (e.g., $100 fine) to a general rule (e.g., don’t shoplift), any individual who chooses to break the rule, also chooses their punishment; and thus, their punishment can be considered as self-directed. In this way, criminal law recognizes and respects individual dignity by not interfering with this self-direction, the capability required by law for responsibility and thus punishment. Finally, I claim that, because of dignity’s worth, justifications of any current or proposed change to theory and/or practice of criminal law should include a consideration of how that law respects individual dignity.
- Academic Unit
- Philosophy
- Record Identifier
- 9984270955702771
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