Contemporary Moral Issues

by Mr Joe Jenkins
Paperback, 208 Pages, Published 2002

ISBN 9780435303099
0435303090 | 0-435-30309-0 | 978-0435303099 | 978-0-435-30309-9
The classic moral arguments in favour of the death penalty have been Biblical and retributive: ‘Whosoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.’ Genesis 9: 6 ‘Let the punishment fit the crime’ is the secular equivalent. Both ideas imply that the murderer deserves to die. Defenders of capital punishment claim that society has the right to kill in defence of its members, just as the individual may kill in self-defence. However this is a weak argument as long as the effectiveness .