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)