Death Penalty and Deterrence

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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 ...

Extraits

[...] 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. [...]

[...] Ultimately, a society that relies on such an institution for its social order will not be safe and orderly as a society that relies on moral education and building people's character. It is better in the end to depends and exercise the equally natural inclination to social conformity and traditional norms. Then you will have a citizenry that ‘knows shame'”. One perfect illustration of this is the behavior of some New Orleans citizens after Hurricane Katrina introduced chaos in the city life. [...]

[...] Deeply considered, deterrence effect is not so profitable. Apparently one can say, deterrence implies a society in order with less crimes, which would be a good thing. However, the problem is that if people effectively do the right thing, it is for the wrong reason. Deterrence indeed conduces people to refrain from wrongdoing not because they think it is really bad but because they are scared to be punished. In other words, they do not see an internal reason to refrain from wrongdoing but an external one. [...]

[...] Hence, if one aims at arguing in favor of death penalty, one has to find other reasons than deterrence. This is especially true in Christianity : created man in his own image” ( Genesis, 1:27 ) "On Deterrence and the Death Penalty" by Ernest van den Haag, Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science no (1969). Hugo Adam Bedau, “Capital Punishment”, in Matters of Life and Death : New introductory Essays in Moral Philosophy, p.175 Ibid. The study compared the homicide rates during 1952-1967, when an execution occurred on an average of every two months, with the homicide rates between 1969-1991 a period during which no executions occurred ( Centre on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, How Have Homicide Rates Been Affected By California's Death Penalty, April 1995, p.2-3 ) What has been the case so far. [...]

[...] If it did, crime rates in death penalty states would be lower than in non-death penalty states, that which is refuted by empirical studies. Should we conclude that death penalty is unjustified ? No because the arguments marshalled in this paper lead not to the conclusion that death penalty is unjustified but rather that justifying capital punishment on the ground of the deterrent effect is wrong. What is at stake is a precise argument in favor of death penalty. We have shown that this line of reasoning is not merely inconsistent but also false. [...]