Capital Punishment: Opposing Perspectives On Moral, Ethical, and Legal Arguments

            The use of capital punishment and its moral basis has an extensive history in all cultures worldwide. The right of the state to end one's life has been argued in a variety of formats in descent from eternal law, natural law, and positive law, hence the actual standing code regardless of its authorship. Exactly what is the nature of this law and one's relation or participation to such frames the major argument. Is there a right to perform the act of an execution on an individual for any particular misdeed? Arguing from the eternal law position would posit an immutable, infallible entity or law that is the support for our existence. The human experience does not qualify one to challenge the dictate from this descending power. The duty to fulfill the authority outweighs any other particular individual consideration. The argument of natural law is used by both religious and materialist philosophy. This case basically has centered on what is not in violation of the functioning of the laws of nature, which are independent of human interference. In turn the positive law will be argued here as to that which is legal regardless of authorship. A mixed form of law is possible (Anderson, 1988) (Aquinas, 1992).

            The above state a very simple format common to basic political science and are a point of departure for stating a moral basis for a claim. The ethical position here will be argued in light of norms of conduct in relation to the moral principle. Of interest are the conduct of those persons involved in capital punishment, judges and lawyers, sentencing  (equality and proportionality), and the means of performing the act. The legal case will primarily focus on standing code whether such is pro or con. International law is increasingly becoming a deciding factor in many nations' position to abolish capital punishment. The right of the state in this environment will also be discussed.

            A focus of the debate is the moratorium movement. There is no disguise that the United States moratorium platform extends from the abolitionist platform, which is based legally in international law.

            There are a large degree of system effects operating on individuals and groups that are both public and private in an extremely emotive issue. The United Nations, the Universal System (international commissions), large religious and secular groups as the Catholic Church, and Amnesty International are operating on the heads of states, local governors, and attorney generals to abolish the death penalty. The United States in recipricocity is exerting its influence on the exterior, as capital punishment is a major issue leading to the election of conservative candidates as President George Bush III.   

Sister Helen Prejean, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and author of Dead Man Walking leads The Moratorium Campaign which is the spearhead for the abolitionist movement in the United States.

            Major international treaties that call for the abolition of the death penalty while permitting party states to retain such are:

• The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• Protocol No.6 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human rights and Fundamentals Freedoms
• The Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty