Death Penalty and Deterrence

Philosophie | 5 pages | 04-02-2006 | Format : | Note : Non noté |

PRIX : 3.60€ |

Résumé

Discussion about the deterrence effect of Death Penalty and more precisely about this quote : “Even granting that the courts are far from infallible, capital punishment is still valuable as a deterrent. We need to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys.” Assess this line of reasoning.

Extract:

Our societies are governed by rule of law. Law defines a way to act in society so that liberty could not be a threat for others. In drawing a border, law indicates what is the right beahvior one must adopt, and in the same time, which behavior is punishable. When one does not conform to the behavior required by law, one has to be punished. But punishment implies several questions : who should be punished ? Which punishment should be applied for this kind of harm ? Does the punishment fit the harm done ? Among every kinds of punishment, capital punishment is the one considered as the harshest. Since human life has been sacred in an ethical point of view for thousand years, to inflict the death penalty on someone is to deprive him of this sacred life of which he is not worthy.

Because the death penalty deprives of the most sacred thing (human life), it has been the object of a violent moral controversy. One of the most important argument its defenders put forth pertains to deterrence. The idea is that executing a murderer prevents crimes in so far as the others are frightened into not committing any crimes by the knowledge that convicted offenders are executed. Therefore, efficient deterrence prevents crimes by psychological threat. That's why one maintains that “ even granting that the courts are far from infallible, capital punishment is still valuable as a ...

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