Study Guide Exam #3 – Ethical Choice

Primoratz

What is the general retributive theory of punishment? How do theories of punishment based on the notion of justice such as retribution differ from utilitarian theories of punishment?

What is unique about the crime of murder that requires the execution of the murderer?

How does Primoratz respond to the following objections?

1. Human beings have an absolute right to life.

2. Capital punishment is contradictory because the murderer is murdered.

3. The risk of executing an innocent person is too great.

4. There is racial and class bias in death penalty sentencing.

Nathanson

What is the difference between equality and proportional retributivism?

The equal punishment principle is not an adequate principle of justice because in some cases it recommends punishments that are cruel and unusual and in others it provides any guidance in other cases.

How does proportional retributivism connect crimes with punishments, and why does it not demand capital punishment?

What are the two symbolic messages of abolishing capital punishment?

Glover and van den Haag

How the deterrence argument for capital punishment, like all utilitarian arguments, weights the benefits of an action against its costs.

The difference between the statistical, intuitive, and best bet arguments for the claim that capital punishment deters more potential murderers than life imprisonment without parole.

Glover’s three objections to the deterrence argument.

Glover’s objection to the best bet argument.

Dieter

What facts does Dieter cite to support the claim that the death penalty is applied in a racially discriminatory manner?

Why the risk of executing an innocent person makes it inevitable that death penalty trials are quite lengthy and expensive.

According to Dieter, how could we spend the money the death penalty costs us more effectively?

Essay Questions

1. Does the retributive theory of punishment require the death penalty? Summarize the opposing position and provide arguments to support your view.

2. Does the social costs theory of punishment support the death penalty? Carefully analyze the various costs and benefits of capital punishment and explain why, in your view, one side outweighs the other.