Many legal theorists have argued that the only morally legitimate goal in imposing criminal penalties against certain behaviors is to prevent people from harming others. Clearly, such theorists would oppose laws that force people to act purely for their own good or to refrain from certain harmless acts purely to ensure conformity nonconforming behavior to which this goal might at first seem not to apply.
In many situations it is in the interest of each member of a group to agree to behave in a certain way on the condition that the others similarly agree. In the simplest cases, a mere coordination of activities is itself the good that results. For example, it is in no one’s burglary and assault; instead, it is the lack of a coordinating rule that would be harmful.
In some other situations involving a need for legally enforced coordination, the harm to be averted goes beyond the simple lack of coordination itself. This can be illustrated by an example of a coordination rule—instituted by a private athletic organization—which has analogies in criminal law. At issue is whether the use of somewhat complex appeal to the legitimacy of enforcing a rule with the goal of preventing harm.
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