ABSTRACT
It was said during the civil rights era that the state could not change individual or public attitudes about African Americans by enacting antidiscrimination legislation. The retort of civil rights leaders was that they were concerned not merely with how people think but how they behave. Law surely was an effective tool in altering behaviors. Whether the law ultimately affects personal beliefs and behaviors is probably unknowable. But the legislative, perhaps even the judicial, process is certainly sensitive to public beliefs. Thus, legislators and judges are influenced in their decisions by their perceptions of what the public believes. This influence can lead lawmakers to restrict or punish behaviors that are widely regarded as immoral, whether or not they truly threaten the health of others.
