CAPITAL Punishment JCE Chapter 12
CAPITAL Punishment
JCE Chapter 12
From Last Class…
The justification of punishment differs for different ethical theories.
Deontological RetributionUtilitarian DeterrenceCare Ethics Restorative/RehabilitationPolice Sub-culture Incapacitation
…To this class
The justification of CAPITAL punishment differs for different ethical theories.
Deontological RetributionUtilitarian DeterrenceCare Ethics Restorative/RehabilitationPolice Sub-culture Incapacitation
Forms of CAPITAL Punishment
Current Practices in US
Current Practices in US: Problem
CAPITAL Punishment Comparison
CAPITAL Punishment Practice
Philosophical Justification
The justification of CAPITAL punishment differs for different ethical theories.
Deontological RetributionUtilitarian DeterrencePolice Sub-culture Incapacitation
Philosophical Justification
The justification of CAPITAL punishment differs for different ethical theories.
Deontological RetributionUtilitarian DeterrencePolice Sub-culture Incapacitation
Utilitarian Deterrence
If one person is shown as paying the ultimate price for their crime, then other criminals will be less likely to commit related crimes.
Deterrence is an empirical consequence. For deterrence to be justified under utilitarianism, it must be shown to deter.
Utilitarian Deterrence
From Sellin, 1980
Utilitarian Deterrence
TEXAS!
TEXAS!
Philosophical Justification
The justification of CAPITAL punishment differs for different ethical theories.
Deontological RetributionUtilitarian DeterrencePolice Sub-culture Incapacitation
Deontological Retribution
Argument: By deliberately causing an innocent person’s death, the murderer has rendered himself guilty and deserving of death.
Deontological Retribution
Problem: Death for Death? No Equity in CAPITAL Punishment.
“But what is capital punishment if not the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal act, no matter how calculated, can be compared? If there were to be a real equivalence, the death penalty would have to be pronounced upon a criminal who had forewarned his victim of the very moment he would put him to a horrible death, and who, from that time on, had kept him confined at his own discretion for a period of months. It is not in private life that one meets such monsters (25).” -Camus
Philosophical Justification
The justification of CAPITAL punishment differs for different ethical theories.
[Deontological Retribution] ??Utilitarian DeterrencePolice Sub-culture Incapacitation
Police Sub-culture Incapacitation
A criminal will not recommit their crime if they no longer are living.
Police Sub-culture Incapacitation
PROBLEM: Mistakes!
Police Sub-culture Incapacitation
PROBLEM: Mistakes!
Police Sub-culture Incapacitation
PROBLEM: Discrimination!
Philosophical Justification
The justification of CAPITAL punishment differs for different ethical theories.
[Deontological Retribution] ??Utilitarian Deterrence[Police Sub-culture Incapacitation]???
Final Appeal for CAPITAL Punishment?
• Some on Death Row feel their death is just.• Passaro was executed for the 1998 death of his daughter. Passaro
was in a custody dispute with his second wife in November 1998 when he doused his van with gasoline, strapped 2-year-old daughter Maggie inside and then sat down in his car before lighting it on fire. However, before the fire could consume him, Passaro jumped out of the car but left Maggie to die.Passaro pleaded guilty to murder in 2000 and requested — and received — the death penalty. Passaro did not, and never wanted, to appeal his guilty plea, and rejected his attorneys' attempts to help him.
• http://www.goodbyewarden.com(last words of executed inmates)