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Contemporary Moral Problems (Course Guide)

Course Materials - Instructor: Douglas Weidenbach

Capital Punishment

Death Penalty Lecture

Key Questions

Why should we execute people and for what crimes?
Are there certain crimes where execution is appropriate?
Is execution a “cruel” or “unusual” punishment?

Key Terms

Execution
Lethal injection
Death row
8th Amendement
Gregg v, Georgia (1976) Supreme Court
Atkins v. Virginia (2002) Supreme Court
English Bill of Rights 1689
Retributive Theories of Jusstice (or Punishment)
Deterrence
Lex talionis
Capital offense

Key Philosophers

Immanuel Kant
Ernest Van Den Haag
Jeffrey H, Reiman
- For information on their views search "Name of Philosopher" and Capital Punishment (or Death Penalty)

Watch the Video:

Botched Executions - Short video Clips

NOTE: These videos are 3D animated diagrams, not the actual events.

Joseph Woods - Arizona

Clayton Lockett - Oklahoma

3D animated diagram.

Dennis McGuire - Ohio

News clip.

More Information

More Information

An Argument Against Capital Punishment
Noah Levin. | OER | Introduction to Ethics | LibreTexts
Capital Punishment
The central philosophic question about capital punishment is one of moral justification: on what grounds, if any, is the state’s deliberate killing of identified offenders a morally justifiable response to voluntary criminal conduct, even the most serious of crimes, such as murder?
Capital Punishment and the Constitution
Jeffrey Johnson. | OER | Philosophy: Inferring and Explaining | LibreTexts.
Death Penalty Information Center
The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to serve the media, policymakers, and the general public with data and analysis on issues concerning capital punishment and the people it affects. DPIC does not take a position on the death penalty itself but is critical of problems in its application.

Last Updated: Nov 11, 2024 10:19 AM
URL: https://westerntc.libguides.com/contmoralproblems
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Subjects: Liberal Arts

Tags: argument, ethical issues, ethics, logic, morality, philosophy, reason

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