Abstract

The question of whether a system of criminal punishment is just, in terms of morality, can be approached from many angles. More than ten points relating to the retention or abolition of the death penalty have been raised in the dispute in the West over whether the death penalty is justifiable. In my view, it is unnecessary to address this number of issues, not simply because of space limitations that would make it difficult to deal with them in sufficient depth, but also because such trivial lines of reasoning can only weaken the main argument and divert us from the topic of the justifiable grounds of punishment. I shall therefore follow an established framework--the justifiable grounds of punishment--in considering the moral integrity of the death penalty from the dual perspectives of retribution and utility within the traditional theory of punishment.