The Foundation of Legal Paternalism with a Look at its Role in Criminalization

Theoretical foundations of legal paternalism stem from particular epistemological, ethical and political theories. The existence of a wide range of paternalism such as soft, hard, strict, wide, pure and impure has led to the emergence of different attitudes toward paternalism. Recognition of legal paternalism requires a kind of authoritative legal system and results in ignoring the rights to freedoms of citizens and limitation of their choices. By criticizing the epistemic, moral and political foundations of paternalism, the article accepts paternalism in all aspects of citizen’s affairs including criminal issues only in a very limited way and exceptional cases. Findings of this study suggest that paternalism is accepted only if it does not violate the complete freedom of citizens and is seriously necessary. Moreover, paternalism is justified when its targets lack knowledge about matters as in case of infants, insanes and mentally ill people.