Law Commons^™

Desert And Deterrence: An Assessment Of The Moral Bases Of The Case For Capital Punishment, Richard O. Lempert

Michigan Law Review

The controversy over the death penalty has generated arguments of two types. The first argument appeals to moral intuitions; the second concerns deterrence. Although both types of argument speak to the morality of systems of capital punishment, the first debate has been dominated by moral philosophers and the second by empirical social scientists. For convenience I shall at times refer to the approach of the moral philosophers as the moral case for (or against) capital punishment or as the argument from morality.

Constitutional Law - Eighth Amendment - Capital Punishment - State Death Penalty Statutes - Procedural Safeguards, Scott T. Redman

Duquesne Law Review

The Supreme Court of the United States has held that the Alabama death penalty statute which prohibited a jury instruction of lesser included offenses in a capital case is unconstitutional because it diminishes the reliability of the guilt determination process, leading to an arbitrary and irrational imposition of the death penalty.

Beck v. Alabama, 447 U.S. 625 (1980).

Capital Punishment And The Right To Life: Some Reflections On The Human Right As Absolute, Peter J. Riga

Seattle University Law Review

The right to life of the person and its various applications in different political situations is one of the most debated subjects of our day. This question is important today for a number of reasons: the widespread demand for abortion, the drive for the right to die, and the challenge to capital punishment. The debate seems at times to be confused: those opposing all forms of war and capital punishment seem to approve of abortion; while others vehemently opposed to abortion, approve of war and capital punishment. But this inconsistency disappears once an absolute view of man's right to life …