Morals and the Criminal Law

Abstract

What are the possibilities of the criminal law as an agency of social control in contemporary American life ? No satisfactory answer to this question can be ventured until we have explored the intricate relationships which exist between current patterns of morality and the prohibitions of criminal statutes. Roscoe Pound has long insisted that the law in action is greatly influenced if not determined by custom and public opinion.2 Yet we sometimes forget his dictum in our zeal to criticize the shortcomings of such law enforcement agencies as the police and criminal courts.