Topic: Permissibility of the death penalty

According to Conrad (1983), a punishment should be scaled with respect to the seriousness of
a crime. A penalty should also accord with ‘man’s dignity’, which is undermined when a
punishment involves the inessential infliction of pain (Pugsley, 1981). Therefore, an
appropriate punishment should be one that is proportionate to the gravity of the crime and
does not infringe on human dignity.

Thesis: Pojman's argument that the death penalty is permissible on the basis that death
penalty is the only appropriate response to murder is largely unconvincing as firstly, death
penalty should not be applied universally to all forms of murder given that murder occurs
under varying circumstances. Secondly, the existence of punishments alternative to death
penalty, which also satisfies Pojman’s idea of proportionality deems it not to be the only
appropriate response to murder. The supporting reasons or pieces of evidence are:

(1) Death penalty as a uniform response to all forms of murder as suggested by Pojman fails
to account for the individual circumstances and motivations behind each murder, thus
leading to the meted punishment being insensitive to the severity of the crime (Leison, 1986).

(2) Punishments such as life imprisonment without parole are even more suitable responses to
murder as these punishments reaffirm the idea of an appropriate punishment- one that is
proportionate to the crime committed without inflicting unnecessary pain through death.
(Pursgey, 1981).

(3) Critics may argue that death penalty is the only punishment that can bring about closure to
the family members of the victim, assuring them that the criminal has been awarded the most
severe punishment proportionate to the graveness of their crime. However, many family
members of victims prefer punishments like life sentence without parole, which to them is the
most severe punishment (Madeira, 2016).
Reference List:
Brooks T. (2012). Punishment. United Kingdom, UK: Routledge
Conrad, J. P., & Van D. H. (1983). The Death Penalty: A Debate. New York, NY: Plenum
Publishing Corporation
Feser E. (2011). Punishment, Proportionality and the Death Penalty: A Reply to Chris
Tollefsen. Public Discourse. Retrieved from
http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2011/10/4126/
Ivan Simonovic (2016). In United Nations Human Rights (2016). Death Penalty and the
Victims. New York, NY: United Nations Human Rights, Office of the High
Commissioner.
Leisor B. (1986). The Death Penalty is Permissible. In Pojman P. L. (2006). Philosophy: The
Quest for Truth (pp. 593-598). New York, NY: Oxford University Press
Pugsley, R. A. (1981). A Retributivist Argument Against Capital Punishment. New York,
NY: Scholarly Commons at Hofstra Law