Utilitarianism And Death Penalty Ethics

Ethics and morality have influenced humans for countless centuries, shaped and molded by age, culture and gender. These factors have come to create individual and unique ethical lenses that each person sees the world through, therefore, not all ethical frameworks agree on what is right and wrong in ethical dilemmas like the death penalty. Religion is often used by people as an ethical framework, but in an increasingly secular world, religious ethics often come into conflict with secular ethical approaches. The death penalty has long been a controversial, contentious topic of ethical debate amongst both the secular and religious communities. Consequentialism methods such as Utilitarianism are clear in their stance against the death penalty, …show more content…
Utilitarianism branches off from Consequentialism, as it also focuses on the idea of the greatest good that can be found within action, but diverges in the sense that it furthermore focuses heavily on the greatest good for the greatest number of people (Driver, 2009). Utilitarianism would infer that the death penalty is vindicated, as it results in the prevention of the offender from re-offending, for obvious reasons, and it is also effective in deterring others from committing the same crime. What this creates is a validation for the killing of the sentenced as it has resulted in the greater good for the greater number of people, as well as helping to correct a societal issue (Driver, 2009) . When using consequentialism as the framework, it would be assumed that the same view would hold, however, this is not the case as Consequentialism implies that the death sentence does not result in the greater good. This is said because, although the offender is prevented from re-offending, the pain and discomfort that it brings to the family members of the recently deceased offender outweigh the justification of the killing, and, through killing the offender, society becomes brutalized (BBC, 2014). Whilst secular frameworks, such as Consequentialism and Utilitarianism, contain valid proposals and ideologies towards the death penalty, it …show more content…
Secular frameworks were shown to be more effective in dealing with the death penalty as they provided in-depth and sound arguments for deciding whether the death penalty could be vindicated in modern society. In a world of exponential growth and development, we are finally coming to realize that the death penalty is not only inhumane and flawed, but it also violates one of the most universal human rights that we own: the right to life. Therefore, it is viewed as an obsolete practice in our developed world and will most likely be eradicated within the very near