PHIL 2103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Louis Pojman, Capital Punishment By Country, Murder
7 May 2018
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Louis pojman in defense of the death penalty
• Abolitionists = those who wish to dispense with capital punishment
• Retentionists = those who wish to retain capital punishment
• Pojman is a retentionist
• The retributivist argument
o P1: people ought to get what they deserve
▪ In most cases yes
o P2: murders deserve the death penalty
▪ What type of murder?
▪ First degree murder: yes
▪ Self-defense: now
o C: so murderers ought to receive the death penalty
o Is the death penalty murder?
▪ Justified murder?
▪ Forfeit the right to life when you murder
• Utilitarian argument
o P1: if the death penalty deters would-be offenders from committing murders, then the
death penalty is morally justified
o P2: the death penalty deters would be offenders from committing murders
▪ Lightning strike example: every time someone murders someone, the murderer
is struck dead every time
o C: so the death penalty is morally justified
o Difficult to see if people chose not to murder
o Cost vs. benefit analysis
• Optimizing (P2-death penalty deterrent)
CP works
CP doesn’t work
Bet on
We win: some murderers
die and innocents are
saved
We lose: some murderers
die for no purpose
Bet against
We lose: murderers live
and innocents needlessly
die
We win: murderers live
and some lives of others
are unaffected
o Death penalty is a safer bet
• Objections
o The death penalty is a form of revenge
▪ Actually it is retribution
▪ Revenge is trying to take justice in your own hands
▪ Retribution is more of a just payment for your actions (what is deserved)
o Sometimes the innocent are executed
▪ Accidents happen everywhere i.e. driving, flying
o A disproportionate amount of minorities receive the death penalty
▪ The actual law does not state anything about race
▪ The problem is with the unfair application of the law
▪ The law is not discriminatory, it is being applied in a discriminatory way
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