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The Ethical Theory Of Hedonism In Criminal Justice

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The Ethical Theory Of Hedonism In Criminal Justice
Hedonism implies that the moral obligation of human beings is to maximise actions that promote pleasure or happiness. It advocates for displacing pain through instilling happiness. It is an ethical theory that ascertains a right and wrong act depending on whether they promote and produce pleasure and pain respectively. Such forms of pleasure do not only apply to sensory pleasure. It, however, rounds it up to the forms of pleasure that uphold the ethical values. This study is going to focus on the moral theory of hedonism and how it is applied in the field of criminal justice (Shafer-Landau, 2012).
The ethical theory of hedonism is a critical issue in the field of criminal justice. It is essential to the definition of criminal behaviour. It
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It looks at the normative aspect of behaviour. Hedonism is a school of thought that aims at the understanding response. Seemingly, criminal actions are brought about by immoral and ethical actions. It, therefore, is necessary to understand criminals in the aspect of their behaviour. The theory of hedonism is applied in criminal justice to study criminal conduct. Criminal justice is a field that studies the crimes committed in the society and taking the necessary steps for those who violate the law. It, therefore, aims at controlling all unethical and immoral actions and mitigating crime and issuing penalties for those who have committed crimes. It aids in the analysis of the way of thinking and acting of the criminal so as to find out what motivated the criminal act. It consequently leads in understanding the pattern of thought of a criminal (Shafer-Landau, …show more content…
There are two types of enjoyment. Ethical hedonism looks at the actions of human beings and evaluates whether they are aimed at promoting pleasure or pain. Similarly, psychological hedonism believes that all humans are naturally constructed to aims at bringing and desiring pleasure. The above fields of enjoyment are essential in the criminal justice system. They aid in understanding criminal in the aspect of their thinking. It enables in evaluating their motives behind their criminal actions. Furthermore hedonism in criminal justice assists in determining the right kind of punishments for the crimes. Such action should be more painful and, therefore, make the criminals look at their actions as morally and ethically

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