Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

Utah Code § 76-1-104

Purposes and principles of construction

Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case State v. Standiford (1988)

Most recently applied in 2025 UT App 44 - State v. Costello (April 2025)

Enacted by Chapter 196, 1973 General Session

How often courts cite this section

19821990200020102020202520
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

The provisions of this code shall be construed in accordance with these general purposes.

(1) Forbid and prevent the commission of offenses.

(2) Define adequately the conduct and mental state which constitute each offense and safeguard conduct that is without fault from condemnation as criminal.

(3) Prescribe penalties which are proportionate to the seriousness of offenses and which permit recognition or differences in rehabilitation possibilities among individual offenders.

(4) Prevent arbitrary or oppressive treatment of persons accused or convicted of offenses.

Official source: Utah State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Utah statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.