Abolitionism: Unterschied zwischen den Versionen

*Denying the legitimacy of the death penalty by denying that (1) it serves justice, (2) it is socially necessary, (3) it is socially useful. Sometimes it is argued that it is counterproductive: killing a person is a bad example that might lower the value of life in society and incite homicides instead of preventing them (barbarization of society). In cases of erroneous verdicts the death penalty is the only one that does not permit redress: a prisoner can be set free and compensated, but an executed man cannot be revived.

*Why does capital punishment persist in some places and not in others?

David Garland attributes the persistence of capital punishment to the relatively undeveloped nature of the American state and to the country’s low levels of social solidarity. Governments that are secure in their power and legitimacy are confident enough to banish the executioner. These tend to be countries that have professional criminal justice systems insulated from the public’s passion for revenge and that are able to maintain low levels of interpersonal violence. Not so surprisingly, then, the death penalty is most entrenched in the South, which has had the nation’s highest homicide rates and where the police have tended to be relatively under-funded and less professional.