However, the good consequence is that the riots and lynching stop. The primary bad consequence is that an innocent man is punished. In the above, we see there are both good and bad consequences. If he knows that a quick arrest will stop the riots and lynching, surely, as a utilitarian, he must conclude that he has a duty to bear false witness in order to bring about the punishment of an innocent person.' Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory, that is, one considers the consequences of an action in order to determine the moral status of the action.
Suppose too that our utilitarian is in the area of the crime when it is committed such that his testimony would bring about the conviction of a particular black man. 'Suppose a utilitarian were visiting an area in which there was racial strife, and that, during his visit, a black man rapes a white woman, and that race riots occur as a result of the crime, -white mobs, with the connivance of the police, bashing and killing black men, etc.
