Private and Public Spheres. Should our autonomy be traded in for protection? And when does protection and interference by the criminal justice system start to compromise our own sense of autonomy? When it comes to the idea of sexual autonomy and state i

The first 200 words of this essay...

Criminal law is expressly concerned with the acts which cause unwanted harm on individuals.1 Members of society take comfort in the belief that the presiding goal of the criminal justice system is to identify, deter, prevent, and punish those that jeopardize the overall integrity of the 'idyllic' society. It is argued that this irrefutable adherence to this social consciousness that the majority of the members of society uphold is what allows for a relatively stable community. However, if the imposition of the criminal justice system extends too far into the lives of individuals, this harmonious may cease to exist. This is because it impedes on the autonomy of the people. The lines are often blurred when it involves the autonomous citizen and the rights they feel as an individual that they should have. It would presumably be just for the behaviour of a person on a public street to be censored to an extent that their actions do not offend others. In this scenario, it is fair for the law to dictate what is acceptable behaviour and what is not. But what if we extend the boundaries of the public sphere to that of the pseudo-private sphere2. Should our autonomy