Overview

Capital punishment (the death penalty) is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for a crime. The ethical debate focuses on justice, deterrence, and human rights.

Core Idea

  • Retributivism: “An eye for an eye.” Justice requires that the punishment fit the crime. If you kill, you forfeit your life.
  • Abolitionism: The state has no right to take a life; it is cruel, unnecessary, and prone to error.

Formal Definition

  • Retribution: Punishment justified by the desert of the offender.
  • Deterrence: Punishment justified by its ability to prevent future crimes by others.

Intuition

  • The Monster: For a serial killer who tortured children, many feel a deep intuition that death is the only appropriate punishment (Retribution).
  • The Innocent: If we execute one innocent person, is the whole system unjust? (Miscarriage of Justice).

Examples

  • Deterrence Argument: Proponents argue it scares potential murderers. Opponents argue statistics show no clear deterrent effect compared to life imprisonment.
  • Cost: Surprisingly, in the US, the death penalty often costs more than life in prison due to lengthy legal appeals.

Common Misconceptions

  • Misconception: It’s cheaper to kill them.
    • Correction: (See above). Due to due process requirements, it is usually more expensive.
  • Misconception: It’s about revenge.
    • Correction: Retributivists distinguish “revenge” (personal, emotional) from “retribution” (impersonal, proportional justice).
  • Sanctity of Life: The view that all life is sacred and should not be taken.
  • Social Contract: Beccaria argued we never gave the state the right to kill us when we entered the social contract.
  • Cruel and Unusual Punishment: The constitutional standard in the US.

Applications

  • Law: The global trend is towards abolition (most of Europe), but it remains common in the US, China, and the Middle East.
  • Race and Class: Statistics often show racial bias in who gets the death penalty, raising justice concerns.

Criticism and Limitations

  • Irreversibility: You can release an innocent prisoner, but you can’t resurrect an executed one.
  • State Power: Giving the government the power to kill its citizens is dangerous (potential for abuse).

Further Reading

  • On Crimes and Punishments by Cesare Beccaria (Classic abolitionist text)
  • The Death Penalty: A Debate by Pojman and Reiman
  • Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson