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

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

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?

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

“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

“A Life for a Life” Igor Primoratz : eye-for-an-eye: justice 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

“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

“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