UMD A theory of social control with specific suggestions toward penal measures for criminals. All persons being by nature self-seeking are liable to commit crime. Free will is a psychological reality, people freely enter a social contract with the state to preserve peace and the consensus. The laws represent a crystallization of the moral consensus.
All people are rational.
Social contract theorists maintain special access to the criteria needed to judge the rationality of an act. These criteria are based on the measures of utility developed by the theorists themselves. Punishments must be proportional to the interests violated by the crime. Focus is thus on the act. Punishment should not be in excess of this nor should it be used for reformation as this would encroach on the rights of the sanctity of the individual.