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According to Mill, the principle of utility forbids lying, even though it could lead to immediate pleasure as a result. The short-term pleasure could lead to long-term pain. He argues that no expedient effort to gain pleasure will end up producing a "higher pleasure" (or utility). However, not all lies are expedient and result in long-term pain. For example, in the 1996 Barry Levinson film Sleepers, Father Bobby (played by Robert De Niro), a respected Catholic …

…favor by eliminating the sadistic guard before he abused any more youths. Therefore, Father Bobby was happy, Tommy and his friends were happy and every single person who had been abused by the guard was happy. This film (which may or may not be based on actual events) proves that it can be morally justifiable to lie under utilitarianism, as long as it minimizes pain and maximizes pleasure for the greatest number of people.