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Is It Wrong To Commute Death Row? Retribution, Atonement, And Mercy, Stephen P. Garvey
Is It Wrong To Commute Death Row? Retribution, Atonement, And Mercy, Stephen P. Garvey
Cornell Law Faculty Publications
Is it a morally permissible exercise of mercy for a governor to commute the death sentences of everyone on a state's death row, as Governor Ryan recently did in Illinois? I distinguish three different theories of mercy. The first two theories locate mercy within a theory of punishment as retribution. The first theory treats mercy as a means by which to achieve equity. As such, this theory is not really a theory of mercy; it is instead a theory of justice. The second theory treats mercy as a genuine virtue independent of justice. In particular, mercy is understood as an …