Final Exam Study Guide 12 08 2015 Chapter 11 Retribution religion and capital punishment Bohm pg 303 321 Retribution is the primary basis of support for the death penalty with 54 6 agreeing the punishment should fit the crime The second most common reason was incapacitation Retributive motives or feelings are at least to some extent a product of religious teachings Retribution and Capital Punishment Different meanings of retribution cause two problems o Disagreements over retribution s effects on death penalty opinions o Disagreements about the acceptability of retribution as a justification for capital punishment Meanings of Retribution Law professor Herbert Packer describes two versions of retribution o Revenge theory captured in the idea of lex talionis an eye for an eye o Expiation theory based on the premise that only through suffering punishment can an offender atone for his or her crime Desert theory the idea that punishment is imposed because it is deserved Religion and Capital Punishment A majority of people in the US who profess a religious belief appear to support capital punishment even if their religion is ultimately against it The reason many people support the death penalty is vindictive revenge they want to pay back offenders for what they have done o A principle source for vindictive revenge is religion Conclusion 10th PowerPoint Philosophical positions on punishment o Utilitarianism justifies punishment in terms of the balance of good over evil and thus focuses our attention on extrinsic benefits obtained from the punishment o Retributivism links punishment to moral wrongdoing Punishment is justified because it gives wrongdoers what they deserve Finckenauer says distinction between retribution and revenge is based on who repays who Immanuel Kant used the Principle of Equality in discussing retribution o Principle of equality The offender is to be punished in an amount that is equivalent to the harm done by the wrong doing Proportional retribution The worst offenders should get the most severe punishment that the society uses but society should not try to replicate the type of harm the offender committed o More recent philosophers call for proportional retribution rather than o Depends on a ranking of the severity of the punishments and a ranking of the equality retribution seriousness of the crimes Minimal Invasion Principle In addition to proportional retribution Bedau says we should use the least restrictive means of punishment possible in order to achieve the goals of punishment Death Penalty the Bible o Most references that indirectly seem to talk about the death penalty come from passages in the Old Testament o Some death penalty advocates interpret a few passages in the New Testament as providing support for the death penalty but most religious scholars do not The Catholic Church is openly against capital punishment and is a firm advocate to Looked at from the other direction 84 of Christian countries do not have or do not stop it use the death penalty Of the top 9 countries who use the death penalty on a regular basis only one is a Christian country which is the US Chapter 12 American Death Penalty Opinion Bohm pg 323 345 Why American Death Penalty is Important American death penalty opinion is important because it accounts for the continued use of capital punishment in many jurisdictions in the US If there was a strong opposition to it in those jurisdictions it would most likely not be employed there 5 reasons why strong public support contributes to capital punishment o it probably sways legislators to vote in favor of death penalty statutes and against their repeal o strong public support likely influences some prosecutors to seek the death penalty for political rather than legal purposes o to retain their positions some trial judges feel pressure to impose a death sentence in a case in which such is inappropriate o some governors may be dissuaded from vetoing death penalty legislation and commuting death sentences because of strong public support o arguably most important strong public support might be used at least indirectly by justices of both state supreme courts and the US Supreme Courts as a measure of evolving standards of decency regarding what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment The History of American Death Penalty Opinion The Gallup Polls are produced by The American Institute of Public Opinion The most recent Gallup Poll conducted in 2010 found that 64 of Americans were in favor of the death penalty for those convicted of murder Support and opposition when plotted forms a V shape with a slight downward tail in recent years Demographic Characteristics of Respondents Between 1936 1986 whites wealthier people males republicans and Westerners tended to support the death penalty more than any other demographic Baumer and his colleagues found that death penalty opinion was a function of both the characteristics of individuals and the social environment The Marshall Hypothesis Most people did not have an informed opinion on capital punishment therefore if the public was to have an opinion they needed to make a knowledgeable one He believed that the more that people were knowledgeable on it there would be a decrease in favor of the death penalty His hypothesis was proven to be wrong in the sense that classroom knowledge may not be an effective way of changing these opinions Conclusion The Future of American Death Penalty Opinion and the Death Penalty The results of a 20 year longitudinal study of the development of moral judgment found that death penalty opinions are primarily the product of developing oral standards 11 th PowerPoint Equivalent retribution Lex talionis an eye for an eye The offender is to be punished in a manner that is equivalent to the harm done by the wrongful act The punishment replicates the crime o Eye for an eye tooth for a tooth life for a life etc Proportional retribution the worst offenders should get the most severe punishment but the criminal justice system should not try to replicate the type of harm committed by the offender American Law Institute ALI There is no longer a capital punishment statute Section 210 6 in the Model Penal Code The American Society of Criminology condemns this form of punishment and urges its members to use their professional skills in legislatures and courts to seek a speedy abolition of this form of punishment Video PBS Frontline Program The Confessions Known as the Norfolk Four
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