Posted: January 29th, 2022

Moral offenses should be criminalized

Essay
Name
Institution

Essay
Moral offenses should be criminalized; as such, they should be made criminal under state statutes. Utilitarianism’s core ideology is that whether actions are morally right or wrong is dependent on the effect that they generate. According to this theory, the goal of morality is to make life better by increasing the amount of good things (like happiness, wellbeing) generated in the world and reducing the amount of bad things (like pain and unhappiness) generated (Albanese, 2012). As a whole, the society is a victim of these moral offenses as well as the family and friends of those involved in the activity. For instance, prostitution can lead to the spread of disease and put prostitutes in possibly violent situations; fornication can lead to unwanted pregnancies; and adultery can lead to break up of families through divorce. These examples are an indication that moral offenses generate bad consequences, and according to utilitarianism behaviors that generate good consequences are the ones that are moral and should thus be supported. Therefore, criminalizing moral offenses becomes necessary to avoid the bad consequences associated with them.
The theory of formalism posits that if a conduct is perceived to be bad it should remain that way at all times and if a behavior is viewed to be right it should be viewed that way always (Albanese, 2012). Behaviors such as fornication, adultery, sodomy, prostitution and cruelty to animals are considered to be immoral, and therefore, wrong at all times. In this regard, people engaging in such behaviors would be considered acting wrongly. There is thus the need to criminalize these behaviors so as to discourage people from engaging in them. According to the virtue ethics theory, practicing good habits like generosity, honesty, patience, courage, kindness etc makes a moral and virtuous person (Albanese, 2012). The moral offenses are obviously far from being virtuous conducts. Some of the offenses like cruelty to animals are unkind; and fornication and adultery are selfish as they encourage people to engage in acts that please the individual at the expense of others. To inculcate a culture where people strive to be virtuous, it is hence important to criminalize moral offenses.

Reference
Albanese, J. S. (2012). Professional ethics in criminal justice: Being ethical when no one is looking. Pearson

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