“The function of punishment is to do good, to improve the universe, to add to the sum total of happiness. And punishment which does not do this is not justified. It is a crime in itself. The penal acts of society should be judged just as other acts of conduct are judged—by their utilities.”

— J. Howard Moore

Source: The New Ethics (1907), The Perils of Over-population, p. 152

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J. Howard Moore 183

1862–1916

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“The function of punishment is to do good, to improve the universe, to add to the sum total of happiness. And punishment which does not do this is not justified. It is a crime in itself. The penal acts of society should be judged just as other acts of conduct are judged—by their utilities.”

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J. Howard Moore 183

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