HATE CRIME AND JOHN STUART MILL’S “HARM PRINCIPLE”

In this paper we claim that John Stuart Mill’s harm principle is intended to balance the intervention of the state in society. More in particular, the paper will scrutinize the recently adopted hate crime laws in Turkey In with the perspective of the harm principle. We argue that according to Mill the interventionism of the harm principle is depended on whether or not it leads to “social progress”. In this respect, we claim that both interpretation of the harm principle, interventionist, paternalist approach as well as the non-interventionist, minimalist approach, misrepresents John Stuart Mill’s true intention of the harm principle.