Guest Essay: Bentham and Criminal Law

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) sought to design a set of legal and political institutions that would conform to the ‘principle of utility’, i.e. produce the most happiness. This article presents a survey of his famous work, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, and discusses Bentham’s thinking about what utilitarian criminal law would look like. The original text contained 26 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: July 11th, 2023 Source: https://utilitarianism.net/guest-essays/bentham-and-criminal-law --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.