Evolution of the Concept of Public Morality and Principles of its criminalization: Philosophical and Human Rights Approaches

AbstractMany codes advocating public morals have been challenged during recent years. The decriminalization of immoral acts, as one of the most important aspects of modern criminal law, has been rooted in the arguments of scholars such as John Stuart Mill and Joel Feinberg on the state intervention in individual liberties. These scholars by developing freedom restricting principles have advocated a kind of minimalist criminalization in the sphere of public morality. Moreover, the international human rights law system, in an effort to balance cultural diversity and universal values, has endorsed public morality as one of the permissible restrictions on unrestricted civil-political liberties. In fact, following developments in the performance of governments in the field of public morality, the international human rights system, by providing a progressive interpretation of the principles governing criminalization, reject the legal moralism has attempted to defend a kind of rights-oriented criminalization that protects the rights and freedoms of vulnerable people.