ABSTRACT
The ability to consent is recognized in moral philosophy as a central manifestation of personhood and individual autonomy. In contrast, today’s criminal law extends to people very limited authority to consent as far as their physical well-being is concerned. In this chapter, I discuss how criminal law regulates people’s power to consent to infliction of pain. I go over the traditional rationales for invalidating consent to serious physical harm and question whether these rationales are equally applicable to people’s consenting to pain unaccompanied by such harm. As I proceed, I challenge the legitimacy and wisdom of imposing criminal punishment on those who inflict pain on the willing victims.
