Immanuel Kant's Argument Against The Death Penalty

In this paper I have presented both an argument in favor of the death penalty and against the death penalty. To start with there is a brief history of capital punishment including some important legal cases. Many arguments can be made as to the morality of execution, below I describe the deterrent effects as well as a common view held by Immanuel Kant in support of capital punishment. Both of these views are shared by many people. In opposition to capital punishment I have considered the fundamental view that killing, even a murderer, is wrong and the morality of charging juries with understanding the laws that govern sentencing. All of these points have support and should be considered when deciding where you stand on this issue. Citizens …show more content…
Georgia case, stating that the Jury had full discretion for sentencing which violated the constitution (Gravey, p. 838). After this ruling some states eliminated the need for juries to determine a sentence and automatically executed convicted criminals with extenuating circumstances to death. Other states rewrote statutes in order to be compliant with the law. Four years later the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment no longer violated the constitution as long as “a jury had been given adequate guidance as to the exercise of its discretion” following the ruling in the Gregg vs. Georgia case (Gravey, p. 841). Currently, 31 states have capital punishment as a sentencing option for the most severe …show more content…
Consequentialist argue there is an obligation for the government to impose the death penalty on those who commit the most serious crimes, due to the deterrent effect. The consequences of not taking a life, through execution, could lead to the loss of innocent life. As many as 18 innocent lives could be saved by the deterrent of one execution (Sustein, p. 8). A discussion on whether taking a life of a murderer will be discussed later. Even though this argument has been presented for decades, developments in technology and data collections have provided means for further analysis and more precise conclusions. One way to look at the deterrent effect is to compare homicides committed in states during the moratorium on capital punishment from 1972 to 1976 and after reinstatement of executions in 1976. Death rates increased by 91% during the moratorium and decreased by 67% after the moratorium was lifted (Sustein, p. 9). Utilitarian views provide for the greatest good for the greatest number. Therefore, utilitarian belief is that if more people can be saved by utilizing the death penalty then society as a whole is better off. Police officers are sworn to protect lives. If an officer shoots a person holding hostages then he has killed in order to prevent further loss of life. Execution of murderers that deters others from killing also prevents further