A Utilitarian View of Capital Punishment

Paper Summary:

This paper details the British utilitarian's opinions and views on errors made in capital punishment trials and the conviction of the innocent being irrevocable and unjust. It explains how Mill strongly argues that the gravity of the death penalty and the judicial system make it very unlikely that such errors will arise often, if at all.

From the Paper:

"If one takes care to incorporate Mill's strict criteria for administering capital punishment, his arguments are wholly in keeping with his own humane utilitarianism. Given a criminal who has unequivocally committed aggravated murder as a result of the criminal's disposition and who has no chance of social redemption, it follows that the sum of human happiness would be diminished were the criminal ever re-released into society. When violent criminals are among the innocent, the innocent have a tendency to live fearfully knowing that they may be victims of violent crime. If, as seems natural, fear is counter to human happiness, then this scenario decreases rather than increases that happiness."

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• Analytical Essay # 147038 : "Kant, Camus and the Death Penalty Debate"
• Analytical Essay # 111081 : "Cesare Beccaria"

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