The Innocent and Death Penalty

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In the beginning of Chapter 7, Lewis Vaughn challenges us with the question “Is it permissible for a society to put one of its members to death for committing a serious crime?” (Page 348). When people commit crimes no matter how bad, they should still be given rights. That being said opposing of the death penalty doesn’t overthrow the fact the victims did indeed break the law. Stephen Nathanson argues for this position, “those who commit terrible crimes still deserve some level of decent treatment simply because they remain living, functioning human beings”. He suggests that “by renouncing the use of death as punishment, we express and reaffirm our belief in the inalienable, unforfeitable core of human dignity” (Page 354). Religiously speaking, God is the only one who is to judge whether a person should live or not, if He can forgive us for our all of our sins then so should we. Mark 3:28 “Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter”. Those who answer to God’s calling will know that through Him they will be given the gift to be repent and be cleansed from all sins committed. There should be no sides, but in the world we live in today and in dealing with the death penalty in the chapter we see those for it and against it. What makes us any better than them, we all do things that in somebody else’s eyes are wrong the only real difference is we don’t get caught. It seems that much rather then putting the person in jail and a chance to do better the world we live in today feels the person better off dead. Utilitarianism believes “it is better that one man should die than that the whole people should perish” (Kant, 355). We learn that Immanuel Kant is a retributivist and believes in the death... ... middle of paper ... ...ow they can do better for themselves, their families and society. Mahatma Gandhi wrote a quote which is perfectly applied for the argument against the death penalty “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” Works Cited Vaughn, Lewis. “Contemporary Moral Arguments” Readings in Ethical Issues. Second Edition. Oxford University Press Stevenson, Bryan. Close to Death: Reflections on Race and Capital Punishment in America,” In Debating the Death Penalty, ed. Hugo Bedau and Paul Cassell (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 97. Nathanson, Stephen. An Eye for an Eye? (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001). Gandhi, Mahatma Quotes About Freedom http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/freedom The Innocence Project- The Innocent and Death Penalty http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/The_Innocent_and_the_Death_Penalty.php

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