The U.S. and Capital Punishment

Paper Summary:

The paper brings to light many theories on life and death and the good of the the whole versus the good of an individual to attempt to understand the practice of capital punishment. The writer looks at sources that defend capital punishment, opposing them with statistics that claim that incarceration is no more expensive than execution. In summary, the writer finds that Americans are split on whether or not they support capital punishment.

From the Paper:

"Criminal punishment is justified by one of two competing moral theories. Utilitarianism, which seeks to maximize happiness for all, justifies criminal punishment on one of three goals: general deterrence, specific deterrence, and rehabilitation. Each will theoretically reduce crime. General deterrence holds that criminals are punished because "it is believed that [their] punishment will cause other people to forgo criminal conduct in the future" (Dressler 5)."

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