Thesis : In principle a case can be made on moral grounds both supporting
and opposing capital punishment.
Two different cases can be made. One is based on justice and the nature of a
moral community. This leads to a defense of capital punishment. The second
is based on love and the nature of an ideal spiritual community. This leads to
a rejection of capital punishment.
JUSTICE AND THE NATURE OF MORAL COMMUNITY
A central principal of a just society is that every person has an equal right to
'life, liberity, and happiness.' Within that, an arguement for capital punishment forms along the following lines: some acts are so evil and so destructive of a community that they void the right of the perpetrator to life.
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