Capital Punishment Essay, Research Paper

13 Sept 1996

Phil 101

Dialectical Argumentative Essay

The position I’m taking on this essay is that capital punishment is just. Capital

punishment is a deterrent to crime and deterrents to crime are just, therefore Capital

Punishment is just.

The most obvious objection to this argument comes from the soundness of the

premise that deterrents to crime are just. As we discussed in class the word deterrent has

a broad scope and could range easily into the relm of cruel and unusual punishment, which

is prohibited by the eighth amendment of the Constitution of the United States. For

example; to punish a crime such as premeditated murder, a crime punishable by Capital

Punishment, with a sentence of disembowelment or flaying would be a deterrent to crime

but would, in the eyes of society, also be unjust.

Considering the above argument to the first argument that capital punishment is a

deterrent to crime and deterrents to crime are just, I must clarify my meaning of

deterrents. A more correct argument would have been to say that Capital Punishment, as

practiced today, is a deterrent to crime that is copacetic with the eight amendment, and

deterrents to crime that are copacetic with the eighth amendment are just, therefore capital

punishment, as practiced today, is just.

A common argument opposite my argument that capital punishment is just is that

Capital Punishment is the taking of human life and the taking of human life is unjust.

Therefore Capital Punishment is unjust.

The above argument is valid but the premises are not that sound. True Capital

Punishment is the taking of human life, but is all taking of human life unjust? Take for

example the use of deadly force as a means of self defense. The Supreme Court has in

numerous cases stated that the use of deadly force, or the taking of a human life, in the

defense of ones self believing to be in immediate danger of life or limb, is justified. Take

also for example war. As ugly and loathsome as war is you never see soldiers coming

home from war and being arrested wholesale for murder, what you see instead are

soldiers coming home to parades and celebration. That does not sound like the reception

society would give for unjustified killing on a grand scale. These two examples clearly

point out that not all taking of human life is unjust, and by demonstrating this they

undermine the soundness of the argument that Capital Punishment is the taking of human

life and the taking of human life is unjust, therefore Capital Punishment is unjust.