Morality and the Law

Morality and law coexist in what has been characterized as a complex and dynamic environment. Although the two are related, they are separate entities. On the one hand, laws are rules and regulations codified by society. On the other hand, morality is not so clearly classified. At times, law and morality appear to overlap. For example, law and morality appear to be in harmony in instances such as laws enacted against murder. At other times, they appear to be out of sync as in failure of adult children to aid and assist an impoverished parent.

At times the differences between law and morality may be viewed in the difference between criminal and moral culpability. The U.S. criminal justice system has a long tradition of viewing juveniles and some persons with mental illness as not responsible or culpable for their actions and/or moral decisions. The legal system also provides a dispensation from moral culpability in certain situations in which persons are forced to commit what would otherwise be considered immoral and/or illegal behavior such as a person killing another in self-defense. There also exist various mechanisms of social control ranging from rules and regulations at the low end of the continuum to codified criminal law, which provides the highest level of sanction.