Different Ethical Perspectives on Capital Punishment

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Utilitarianism, Deontology, and Capital Punishment
Capital punishment can be morally justified under certain circumstances. 1. Because an eye for an eye is seemingly the way to go in terms of determining punishments for criminals. While most crimes can be punished with certain prison times, the taking of a human life is directly depriving an individual of their right to live and of any other value they can experience in life. With some thought the best way to serve a murder, serial killer, or committee of human atrocities would be through the ultimate deprivation of existence we call death, or at least the ultimate deprivation one can experience while alive. 2. The state would be accredited to the execution of the individual, while creating …show more content…

More specifically following rules over the old idea of “the ends justifies the means” that is utilitarianism. Kant, in the case of capital punishment, believed that eye for an eye was the best form of punishment for criminals. When an innocent life is taken the murderer gives up their right to life and becomes deserving of death. To deprive murderers of their life was the most just action, so they can no longer cause harm to anyone else. Especially in the case that they were to be released from prison, having that humanity stripped away from them when they first murdered. Making them prone to have repeated offenses. Another justification from retributivism is that the value of a human life and it's being stolen away is exceedingly uncomparable to any punishment that can be received in life [This is the case] “simply because we have to be alive if we are to realize and experience any other values at all, there is nothing equivalent to the murderous destruction of a human life except the destruction of the life of the murderer.” (Primoratz 387) Without the destruction of the murderer’s life they are still able to retain some value in life no matter how bad the conditions of their new found prison life may

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