Justice of the Death Penalty in an Unjust World (From Challenging Capital Punishment: Legal and Social Science Approaches, P 29-48, 1988, Kenneth C Haas and James A Inciardi, eds. -- See NCJ-113635)

• NCJ Number: 113637
• Author(s): J Reiman
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 20 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Although capital punishment may be justified in principle based on a philosophy of retribution, it cannot be justified in practice because of its discriminatory and torturous application.

Abstract

The retribution principle holds that wrongdoers should suffer in the amount they have imposed on another. In practice, however, the retribution principle is applied unfairly. Researchers have found that among equally guilty murderers, the death penalty is more likely to be given to blacks than to whites and to poor offenders rather than wealthy ones. The law also discriminates in its definition of murder, which is most often committed by poor people. The retribution principle also fails in that offenders given the death sentence typically suffer psychologically more than their victims. Because the death penalty cannot be justly applied in practice in the United States, it should be abolished even though it may be justified in principle. 14 references.