Understanding and criticizing criminal justice on the basis of Rawls' Veil of Ignorance

Abstract

"A Theory of Justice" is a project in the Kantian school by John Rawls, the twentieth-century philosopher. The "Veil of Ignorance" is one of the prominent notions of his theory of justice, which is born in another abstract concept as the "Original Position". Rawls seeks to establish fairness or impartiality in the laws and administration of society by using such a tool. The present article has tried descriptively and analytically to emphasize the capacity of applying the theory of veil of ignorance in criminal law by applying this doctrine. Finally, the writing of this article demonstrates that an applied approach to Rawls' explanatory model can lead to a better understanding of the legal principles and rules of a legal system (descriptively), and to the extent that the theory is immune from subjectivity, it may criticize criminal justice and its rules.

Keywords

• original position
• veil of ignorance
• fairness
• impartiality
• criminal justice
• rawls