Ethics and the Death Penalty

ETHICS: THE DEATH PENALTY

Deborah A. Thomas-Burns

PHI 200: A Concise Introduction to Philosophy

Instructor: Professor Latasha Fleming

July 23, 2012

Ethics: The Death Penalty

Kurt Mosser (2010) states, “If one has an opinion about whether the death penalty should be abolished and any of a vast number of other issues, one is thinking philosophically.” Philosophically speaking, “Anyone who reflects on the practice of capital punishment has to work through two issues. The first is that of the justification for punishment in general, the second is that of the place of death within his or her overall theory of punishment. It appears that both advocates and opponents of the death penalty are––at the present stage of their unfolding dialogue––embarrassed in similar ways by the need to reconcile their positions on the first issue with the conclusion that they favor on the second (Edmundson, W., 2002).” An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth––if we were to live by this, most politicians, big business CEOs, and banks would be destroyed; without pause, law, or due-process, with no. I will philosophically explore the constitutionality for capital punishment––the death penalty.

“The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon, which codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes. The death penalty was also part of the Fourteenth Century B.C.’s Hittite Code; in the Seventh Century B.C.’s Draconian Code of Athens, which made death the only punishment for all crimes; and the Fifth Century B.C.’s Roman Law of the Twelve Tablets. Death sentences were carried out by such means as crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement (Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), n. d.).”

“In the Tenth Century A.D., hanging became the usual method of execution in Britain. In the following century, William the Conquer would not allow persons to be hanged or...