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Ethics of Capital Punishment: A Comprehensive Analysis

Delve into the ethical dimensions of capital punishment, examining its justifications, aims, and implications on society, with insights from prominent philosophers and scholars.

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Ethics of Capital Punishment: A Comprehensive Analysis

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  1. Chapter Seven:Capital Punishment Applying Ethics: A Text with Readings (10th ed.) Julie C. Van Camp, Jeffrey Olen, Vincent Barry Cengage Learning/Wadsworth

  2. The nature of punishment • Must involve pain, harm, or another unpleasant consequence • Must be administered for an offense against a law or rule • Must be administered to someone who has been judged guilty of an offense • Must be imposed by someone other than the offender • Must be imposed by rightful authority

  3. The aims of punishment:do these justify capital punishment? • Retribution: “eye for an eye,” justice • Prevention of crime: people don’t commit crimes if they are in jail or executed • Deterrence of crime: discourage people from committing crimes • Reform and rehabilitation: does this make sense for capital punishment?

  4. Retentionist and abolitionist • Retentionist: those who support retaining or reinstituting capital punishment • Abolitionist: those who oppose capital punishment

  5. “Speech in Favor of Capital Punishment”John Stuart Mill • Utilitarian argument in support of capital punishment • Capital punishment is more humane than life in prison • Well-run Courts of Justice address the criticism that innocent people might be executed

  6. “A Life for a Life”Igor Primoratz • Retributive argument in favor of capital punishment: eye-for-an-eye: justice • Consequences of capital punishment: irrelevant for purpose of justification • Meets demand for proportionality between the offense and the punishment • But this does not justify using torture against a torturer • Torture is absolutely wrong morally • Torture is indecent, inhuman, degrading

  7. “On Deterrence and the Death Penalty”Ernest van den Haag • Retentionist argument • Protection of society does not justify death penalty • Deterrence: psychological defense, even without data, to justify the death penalty

  8. “Capital Punishment and Social Defense”Hugo Adam Bedau • Abolitionist • Analogy with self-defense does not justify capital punishment • Deterrence: no evidence that it deters murders • Moral principle: in the absence of data that capital punishment deters, we should use the less severe punishment

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