Contemporary Issue of Capital Punishment in the Text

Contemporary Issue of Capital Punishment in the Text
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Contemporary Issue of Capital Punishment in the Text
In his text The Good Life, Porter (4) looks into the ultimate aims in living as proposed all through the philosophic history. The author explores how ethics relates to psychology, religion, and science. He also examines the challenges of determinism and relativism. The text introduces the foundations of ethical thought through the theories of evolutionism, naturalism, existentialism, virtue ethics, religious systems, self-realization, and the ethic of duty. This paper discusses one of the contemporary issues from the author’s philosophical perspective. Specifically, it focuses on the issue of capital punishment, which is in Chapter 12 of the book. Also referred to as the death penalty, capital punishment is the execution of a criminal who has been sentenced to death after being convicted of a crime by a court of law (Porter 245).
The social problem of capital punishment has been covered extensively by the author in the 12th chapter of his text. At the moment, about 19 states have the death penalty while about 31 others do not. Capital punishment, according to the author, is commonly supported by retributivists as a fair type of punishment for murder and other horrible criminal offenses (Porter 241). Retributivists hold the belief that people have to be punished due to the fact that they have perpetrated a crime against the society and have to pay for it. The punishment has to be equal to the crime’s seriousness, equivalent or proportional to the offense that was committed by the criminal or else the punishment will not be just. For example, it is unfair for a shoplifter to be given a life imprisonment sentence (Porter 241). The retributive theory is dependent upon the Old Testament and uses several passages from the Bible to support its claim: “any person who injures her neighbour should be injured in the same way” (Leviticus 24: 19-20) (Porter 242).
Another theory that can be used to explain punishment is the utilitarian theory, which maintains that offenders should be put behind bars so as to rehabilitate and reform them. The reform changes their mentality, orientation and attitude towards the society so that they become responsible citizens who do not disobey conventional rules (Porter 243). Through capital punishment, retributivists believe that the government is executing murderers, which is a proportional response. Utilitarians may also support this sort of punishment. Even though it does not teach the offender a lesson, or rehabilitate or reform her, utilitarians believe that capital punishment will totally protect the society from that particular offender (Porter 245).
Supporters of capital punishment have many arguments to support their stance. One of them is the retributive position which gives emphasis to the fairness of the punishment. Any person who perpetrates an atrocious criminal offense like murder fully deserves to be killed herself. That person has taken a life and therefore hers has to be forfeited. This ensures equal treatment (Porter 245). In addition, by murdering another person, the offender has lost the right t...