Death Penalty Just or Unjust
Carl Albert State College
The Death Penalty Just or Unjust
Phil 3203
April 14, 2014
The Death Penalty
Just or Unjust?
The Death Penalty
Just or Unjust
The death penalty is the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. Capital crimes may include first degree murder (premeditated), murder with special circumstances (such as intentional, multiple, involved with another crime, with guns, of a police officer, or a repeat offense), rape with additional bodily harm, and the federal crime of treason (Capital offense). This paper will examine the two basic positions on the issue of capital punishment; retentionism and abolitionism. Retentionism gives reasons for the death penalty and abolitionism gives reasons against it.
The deterrent effect is one issue that is argued for and against the death penalty. The deterrent effect is defined as the use of punishment as a threat to deter people from offending (Burton). In Dezhbakhsh, Rubin, and Shepherd’s study they concluded that for every execution 18 lives are saved. Sunstein and Vermeule used this information to write a paper that argues consequentialist should have no problem with the death penalty because of the number of lives saved and that deontologist should not either. They argue that because of the significant number of killings one can prevent by allowing the death penalty deontologists should find capital punishment necessary. The deontologist or abolitionist argues that these claims are unfounded because nothing is known about how potential murderers actually perceive their risk of punishment. Studies claiming to asses a deterrent effect have no scientific basis and lack the rigorous replication and robustness analysis that are needed for claims of this magnitude (Discussion of Recent Deterrence Studies). Abolitionist also argues that murder is usually a crime of passion and is not premeditated therefore; a murder is not going
The Death Penalty Just or Unjust
Phil 3203
April 14, 2014
The Death Penalty
Just or Unjust?
The Death Penalty
Just or Unjust
The death penalty is the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. Capital crimes may include first degree murder (premeditated), murder with special circumstances (such as intentional, multiple, involved with another crime, with guns, of a police officer, or a repeat offense), rape with additional bodily harm, and the federal crime of treason (Capital offense). This paper will examine the two basic positions on the issue of capital punishment; retentionism and abolitionism. Retentionism gives reasons for the death penalty and abolitionism gives reasons against it.
The deterrent effect is one issue that is argued for and against the death penalty. The deterrent effect is defined as the use of punishment as a threat to deter people from offending (Burton). In Dezhbakhsh, Rubin, and Shepherd’s study they concluded that for every execution 18 lives are saved. Sunstein and Vermeule used this information to write a paper that argues consequentialist should have no problem with the death penalty because of the number of lives saved and that deontologist should not either. They argue that because of the significant number of killings one can prevent by allowing the death penalty deontologists should find capital punishment necessary. The deontologist or abolitionist argues that these claims are unfounded because nothing is known about how potential murderers actually perceive their risk of punishment. Studies claiming to asses a deterrent effect have no scientific basis and lack the rigorous replication and robustness analysis that are needed for claims of this magnitude (Discussion of Recent Deterrence Studies). Abolitionist also argues that murder is usually a crime of passion and is not premeditated therefore; a murder is not going