Exam 18: Capital Punishment

Some argue that the death penalty could encourage violent crime instead of deterring it, that violent criminals who know they are likely to get the death penalty may commit murder to avoid being captured. This argument is put forth by utilitarian abolitionists.

Some retentionists contend that if the administration of the death penalty is biased against blacks, then the death penalty itself is unjust, because there is no way to apply the death penalty fairly.

Evidence conclusively shows that the death penalty is recognized by would-be criminals as a more severe punishment than life in prison. It therefore follows that the death penalty indubitably deters murderers better than life in prison does.

Suppose a utilitarian abolitionist argues that the death penalty is too costly to implement in a democratic society. A plausible nonconsequentialist reply is that

The deliberate and authorized causing of pain or harm to someone thought to have broken a law is known as

Most retentionists believe that, in a large majority of cases, wrongdoers should not be punished at all.