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Ethical issue of capital punishment
Ethical issue of capital punishment
Moral and ethical issues of capital punishment
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Introduction
Capital punishment was an ancient penalty. This has incurred many argues since 18th century. The focal points are ‘value of life’ and ethical concerns. Besides, the economics analysis also is important, which focuses on the effects and efficiency of capital punishment. In the article, the anterior part indicates the supporting reasons of death penalty, the posterior part indicates the cons.
Support Reason
Deterrence of punishment
Becker (1968), first of all, assumes that the crime is bad which incurs social loss, it should be deterred, death penalty is the severest punishment, and potential criminals are normal individuals. Because individuals are rational, the potential criminals also are rational. They commit crime as maximization of utility. The opportunity cost of committing crime is the net utility from legitimate activity. Therefore, the criminals forgo the crime when expected net utility from crime is lower than the expected net utility derived from legitimate activity. We focus on the expected net utility from crime “E(U)” and equation shows below:
E(U)=P.U(Y-F)+(1-P)U(Y)
P is the subjective probability of the being caught and convicted; U(_) is the individuals utility function, which depend on Y and F; Y is the benefits from committing crime; F is the cost from committing crime if caught, such as punishment.
Therefore the potential criminals will be deterred by the severe punishment.
Almost people are afraid be death, so the capital punishment is extreme severe punishment, which wipes out the benefits from crime efficiently. The capital punishment should be powerful to deter crimes.
Dynamic Analysis
In the dynamic model, the past crime would incur the expansive of future crime as the diminishi...
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...e of Crime by Type of Community, Review of Social Economy, Vol. 43, Pages 245-259
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Oppedahl, J. (2009) Montana Can't Afford the Death Penalty, Helena Independent Record - http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/new-voices-death-penalty-too-expensive-overburdened-courts
[5] Northern Ireland: The Troubles, BBC History, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/troubles/
Rosenfeld, R. (2011). Changing Crime Rates. In J. Wilson, & J. Petersilia, Crime and Public Policy (pp. 559-588). New York: Oxford University Press.
Why are some neighborhoods more prone to experience violent episodes than others? What is the extent and in what sociologically measurable ways do communities contribute to the causation and prevention of crime in their neighborhoods? Are neighborhood-level predictors adequate to explain differences in violent crime rates in the respective communities? These are some of the questions addressed by this statistically intense paper published in Science 1997, by Sampson, Raudenbush and Earls.
McCarthy, B. (2002). NEW ECONOMICS OF SOCIOLOGICAL CRIMINOLOGY. Annual Review Of Sociology, 28(1), 417-442. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.28.110601.140752
Cohen, L. E. & Felson, M. (1979). “Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activities approach,” American Sociological Review 44:588-608.
Deterrence theorists view murder as rational behavior, and assume that in calculating the gains and losses from killing, potential offenders are aware of the death penalty and regard it as a more severe sanction than imprisonment. Because the threat of one's own death presumably outweighs the rewards gained from killing another, murder is not an option for most people and always discouraged. In addition, some noted proponents assert that capital punishment provides an important educative function in society by validating the sanctity of human life (Berns, 1979; van den Haag, 1975; van den Haag & Conrad, 1983). Despite this logic, some challenge the applicability of deterrence to murder. Rather than being a product of deliberation and calculation, it is known that most murders are emotionally charged and their crimes are spontaneous events; they are "acts of passion" or result from a situated transaction rather than from deliberation (Bowers & Pierce, 1980; Chambliss, 1967; Luckenbill, 1977). Indeed, a significant proportion of homicides may not be intended. The situation escapes calm discussion, or due to some extraneous factor, an assault victim dies. Under such conditions, it is unlikely that perpetrators ("killers") give serious thought to whether they reside in a death penalty jurisdiction, or the possibility of execution.
Shin, Kilman, Death Penalty and Crime: Empirical Studies; Fairfax, VA: George Mason University Center for Economic Analysis, 1978
Wilson, James and Herrnstein, Richard. "Crime & Human Nature: The Definitive Study of the Causes of Crime" New York: Free Press, 1998.
Eagan, Jeffrey A. “Capital Punishment: Deterrent Effects and Capital Costs.” Law.columbia.edu. Columbia Law School, 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
Crime exists everywhere. It is exists in our country, in the big cities, the small towns, schools, and even in homes. Crime is defined as “any action that is a violation of law”. These violations may be pending, but in order to at least lower the crime rate, an understanding of why the crimes are committed must first be sought. There are many theories that are able to explain crimes, but three very important ones are rational choice theory, social disorganization theory and strain theory.
Muncie, J., and Mclaughin, E. (1996) The Problem of Crime. 2nd ed. London: Sage Publication Ltd.
Opponents argues that the death penalty does not deterrent individuals from committing crimes. However, there are evidence that death penalty saves lives. Opponents wants us to believe that criminals are unable to rationally make right or wrong choices. According to the rationality choice theory, human behavior are based on self-interest and rational choices about effective ways to accomplish goals with ...
Between 1977 and 2010, an estimated 8,000 people were on Death Row in the US and out of those 8,000, more than 1,200 were actually executed (Siennick, 2012). Policy makers and scholars have been especially interested in whether the death penalty serves a crime-control function by deterring prospective murderers (Siennick, 2012). This debate on whether or not the Death Penalty is an effective deterrent is important to our society because we need to understand the impact of this ultimate and final punishment. Expectations of deterrence follow from the basic idea that potential murderers decide whether to kill after considering the benefits and costs of killing (Siennick, 2012). The Death Penalty as punishment can be a deciding factor to a potential murderer when they make the decision whether to kill someone or not. There is assorted evidence on whether or not this happens and there isn’t a chosen method to gather data that fully supports this idea.
Capital punishment is based on the proposition that there must be consequences for one’s wrong doing. In society, the message is clear; if one does something punishable, au...
While we may all want murders off the street, the problem we come to face is that capital punishment is being used for vengeance or as a deterrent. Capital punishment has been used worldwide, not only by the governments to instill fear, but to show that there are repercussions to ones actions. From the time we are born, we are taught to learn the difference between right and wrong. It is ingrained in our brains, what happens to people that do bad things? Capital punishment is renowned for being the worst thing that could be brought amongst ones life.
Blumstein, Alfred and Jacqueline Cohen. Deterrence and Incapacitation: Estimating the Effects of Criminal Sanctions on Crime Rates. National Academy of Sciences: Washington, D.C., 1978.