ABSTRACT
The criminal law serves as a crucible for crystallizing a society's value system, for it is within this framework that a society lays down the parameters of acceptable behavior – and more specifically, issues a categorical statement of what conduct is to be disallowed on pain of punishment. However, not all behavior that is considered undesirable or even deviant, necessarily comes within the purview of the criminal law, for at issue is not just definition as to what is or is not desirable or permissible, but also the extent of a society's tolerance – its capacity or willingness to allow behavior despite the disapproval which it evokes among its members, or the majority of them, or a dominant group among them. This is true not only of the substantive rules laid down in the various sections of a criminal code which spell out the forms of behavior which are banned and which will, if performed, be punished, but also of the manner in which the law is to be adjudicated and interpreted.
