LegalEnglishL5-L6(中英对照版).docVIP

Purposes of the Criminal Law 刑法的作用 theories of punishment -惩罚的相关理论  The broad purposes of the criminal law are, of course, to make people do what society regards as desirable and to prevent them from doing what society considers to be undesirable. Since criminal law is framed in terms of imposing punishment for bad conduct, rather than of granting rewards for good conduct, the emphasis is more on the prevention of the undesirable than on the encouragement of the desirable. 刑法的主要目的是使人们去做那些社会认为合法的行为，并阻止他们去做不合法的行为. 由于刑法制定的目的是为了惩罚不法行为而非鼓励合法行为,故其侧重点更多是在预防不法行为的发生,而非鼓励合法行为.  In determining what undesirable conduct should be punished, the criminal law properly aims more to achieve a minimum standard of conduct than to bring about ideal conduct (say, the conduct of a highly principled, selfless, heroic person). It is a fine thing for a man, at the risk of his own life, to enter a blazing building in order to rescue a stranger trapped therein, but the law does not ( and should not) punish a failure to live up to such a heroic standard of behavior. It is a virtuous thing for an engaged man and woman to refrain from engaging in Sexual intercourse until they are married, but it does not follow that the law should punish a failure to adhere to such highly moral standard of conduct. 在确定哪些不法行为应该被惩罚时,刑法可能将目标更多的放在了设立一个最低行为标准而不是使一个理想的行为产生(比如,高道德标准、无私的、英勇的行为). 一个人冒着生命危险进入一幢燃烧的房子解救被困在里面的陌生人，这是一件好事。但是法律不能（也不应该）处罚没有达到如此英勇标准的行为。已订婚的恋人能在结婚前不发生性行为是件很道德的事，但并没有规定说法律应该惩罚那些没有遵守如此高道德标准的行为。  The protections afforded by the criminal law to the various interest of society against harm generally form the basis for a classification of crimes in any criminal law textbook or criminal code; protection from physical harm to the person; protection of property from loss, destruction or damage; protection of reputation from injury; safeguards against sexual immorality; protection of the government from injury or destruction; protection against interference with the administration of justice; pro