Morally Responsible, Criminally Responsible, Essay Example

Moral responsibility and criminal responsibility are two very separate codes of behavior. Criminal law is a code of behavior that the members of society mutually agree upon as constituting right and wrong behavior. As such, it rarely changes, and the rules are more or less fixed. Moral responsibility is a code of behavior that an individual decides constitutes right and wrong behavior. As such, it has a fixed base, but many of the rules are relative to the situation the individual encounters.

An individual can be morally responsible for a bad deed without being criminally responsible because what an individual considers morally wrong might not have a corollary in criminal code. For example, an individual might consider it morally wrong to lie to a friend about his plans for the night. This lie would not break any criminal codes, but it would break the individual’s moral code.

Additionally, an individual can be criminally responsible for a bad deed without being morally responsible. This paradox is due to the relative nature of moral responsibility. For example, an individual might have lost his job, home, etc. Assume that he also has a son for whom he has to care. In this state, he feels the responsibility of keeping his son alive by providing food. Seeing a store with loaves upon loaves of bread, he feels that it is morally acceptable to steal a loaf to feed his son. This act is criminally wrong, but for this man, it is morally right.

Criminal responsibility provides a base for moral responsibility. It is a simplified code that gives members of society a starting point for developing a moral code. Criminal codes are too simple to account for all the situations that might arise in society. Moral codes are able to lead a person through situations in a responsible way.