PHIL 3650 Crime and Punishment

PHIL 3650 Crime and Punishment
Crime and Punishment
This course offers a critical examination of philosophical issues involving crime and punishment. In the first half, we will ask what forms of behavior, if any, the state is entitled to declare to be criminal, focusing on such issues as drug abuse, prostitution, blackmail, gambling, hate speech, suicide, pornography, ticket scalping, insider trading, and gun control. In the second half, we will ask what forms of punishment, if any, the state is entitled to impose on those who violate those laws, if any, which are permissible, focusing on such issues as capital punishment, corporal punishment, and competing justifications of punishment in general.
credit hours: 3