Ethics and Criminal Justice

The course aims at providing students the knowledge of theoretical foundations and practical consequences of ethical and political reflection in law and public polices, with a special regard to criminal justice.

The specific objectives of the course are:

obtaining knowledge of the main currents of moral philosophy, i.e. deontology, teleology, utilitiarianism, virtue ethics, discourse ethics and others;

recognizing main positions in the contemporary political philosophy in relation to law and public polices, in particular liberalism and libertarianism, communitarianism and conservatism, neomarxism and critical theory of justice;

acquiring basic knowledge regarding the specificity of ethical reflection and the main problems and disputes in ethics, as well as their relevance to law and public polices;

developing skills to undertake and assess moral arguments in the field of public life and criminal justice;

strengthening the awareness of axiological involvement of legal and political practice.