Philosopy- Death penalty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Philosopy- Death penalty - Essay Example Igor Primoratz, in Justifying Legal Punishment and Ernest Van den Haag, in On Deterrence and the Death Penalty agree with abolitionists in part. Both admit that flaws in the system exist but submit that these issues could be diminished or eliminated. Each author presents compelling philosophical reasoning for continuing the death penalty. Of course, justifying a wrong does not make it right. The pursuit of justice is universally perceived a moral endeavor therefore, according to Primoratz, punishment must be considered moral as well. His theory of morally condoned retribution, the retributive theory, draws credibility by using a quote from the Bible which encourages use of the death penalty. (Primoratz, 1989). There are many quotes from the Bible that seemingly condone retribution for murder, the often quoted ‘an eye for an eye’ for example. Those that subscribe to retribution as justification for the death penalty often invoke this particular Bible reference. Aggression must be met with aggressive punishment. Interestingly, those that use the quote from the Old Testament to justify the use of the death penalty as a moral punishment either overlooked or ignored the passage in the New Testament where Jesus rebuffs this statement explicitly then reminds his followers to instead to ‘turn the other cheek.’ Keeping the debate in the arena of the religious who validate their own bias by pulling from the Bible, the term retribution is a simile for revenge. Those that oppose capital punishment believe that every life should be valued and that imprisoning a person for life without the possibility for parole is adequate punishment. Opponents also think that revenge is wrong and ultimately more destructive to the value system and very fabric of society than is the crime itself. In addition, opponents feel that outlawing the death