ABSTRACT
The broad purposes of the criminal law are to prevent certain undesirable conduct and thereby to protect various interests of society. Criminal law is framed in terms of imposing punishment for undesirable conduct (LaFave and Scott 1972). The institution of punishment exists in every society. When it is imposed by English-speaking courts, it is referred to as sentencing (Walker 1991). In criminal cases, the state is the complaining party, ‘the initiating and enforcing agent’ (Murphy and Coleman 1990, p. 113), in contrast to cases in private or civil law, in which individuals seek redress for harm. In criminal cases, the state views itself as the injured party and, in order to protect the public interest, may choose to prosecute crimes even in cases where the victim prefers not to press charges. A discussion of why certain classes of acts are criminalized in order to prevent seriously harmful conduct, whereas other acts, perhaps equally harmful, are the province of civil law (e.g., tort actions providing for the award of monetary damages), is beyond the scope of this chapter and has been dealt with elsewhere (Nozick 1974; Posner 1977).
