What is the purpose of criminal law?

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‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’—in Latin this is translated to Lex talionis. The idea of just retribution for violations of legal norms in society is the central premise of many of today’s judicial systems. This concept also served as the underlying principle of medieval, modern, down to ancient criminal codes such as the code of Hammurabi.  The law—as another popular Latinized criminal edict goes— is harsh but the law should prevail. Dura lex, sed lex. It is not counter-intuitive to punish a criminal when a wrongful act is done and the laws of society are breached, but this is a deceptively simple way of comprehending and articulating criminal law. What is the purpose of criminal law in the first place?

Criminal law or penal law consist of legally-binding social mandates that aim to establish, uphold, facilitate and restore social justice once violations of them result to a disruption of social order. In many contemporary legal systems the process of administering and executing criminal justice is tasked to duly-authorized judicial agencies that emanate from—yet are autonomous of—a sovereign government. While it may be justified to forfeit or diminish an individual’s right to freedom once guilt has been established and proven in the process of criminally prosecuting a wrongdoer, the government has a legal obligation to ensure that the legal rights of a criminal defendant is observed throughout this process (such as the right to a fair criminal court  trial/hearing/proceeding). The so-called ‘Doctrine of Forfeiture’ was the brainchild of John Locke who was one of the social contract theorists whose ideas influenced the crafting of the earlier forms of government during the modern era.

‘Due process,’ on the other hand, is a legal principle that has its origins from as early as the 13^th century with the establishment of the English Charter or the Magna Carta. The resolution of problematic queries concerning the administration of the rule of law in those earlier times (such as ‘What is the purpose of criminal law?’) were the primary concerns that drove the English to confront the ruling monarchy and demand for political reform.

What the purpose of criminal law is today fundamentally resonates the central premise behind the Magna Carta or the code of Hammurabi. The aim of criminal law is to let criminal justice prevail by lawfully clamping down on criminal activities and apprehending wrongdoers for the sake of restoring and keeping social order. The main objective of criminal punishment is correction in the form of retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation and/or restitution.  The state of nature, according to Thomas Hobbes, is a state in war. Ultimately the alternative—social order—is best and morally praiseworthy.