Exam 14: Legal Punishment

A retributivist would uphold a just punishment for certain crimes even if the imposition of this punishment did not deter anyone from committing such crimes.

According to consequentialist reasoning, if other measures than imprisonment work better to deter or prevent crime then we ought to use these other measures.

Which of the following is a true positive in utilitarian reasoning for capital punishment?

Which country has the highest incarceration rate in the world?

The cost of life in prison without parole compared to an execution is

The last execution by hanging took place in

Studies show capital crime rates in states that regularly execute compared with states that do not have capital punishment is

Label the following examples of reasons for legal punishment as Consequentialist generally (C), Consequentialist Deterrence (CD), Consequentialist Prevention (CP), or Retributivist (R): To the extent that a person could not help what they did in committing a crime, his legal responsibility (and appropriate punishment) is diminished.

According to the retributivist argument, all those who commit serious crimes must "pay" for them and we determine how much they should pay only by considering how serious was their crime.

According to a consequentialist argument regarding legal punishment, if a form of punishment is not deterring anyone from crime, then it cannot be justified.

The fact that having capital punishment "on the table" causes many people to confess to crimes in order to have death "taken off the table" is what kind of ethical reasoning?

A retributivist argument for legal punishment is one according to which persons who break laws must be punished so that we can get personal satisfaction.

How many black high school dropouts are prisoners or ex-convicts by the time they reach their mid thirties?

To suggest that capital punishment is a different moral question for nomadic peoples living in tents or other temporary shelters than for societies with maximum-security prisons is what kind of reasoning?

According to the deterrence argument for legal punishment, any kind of punishment is justified no matter what the consequences.

Label the following examples of reasons for legal punishment as Consequentialist generally (C), Consequentialist Deterrence (CD), Consequentialist Prevention (CP), or Retributivist (R): At least while they are in prison they cannot do any harm to those outside the prison.

Retributivists always support a lex talionis view and thus always will support the death penalty for murderers (as being a life for a life).

Label the following examples of reasons for legal punishment as Consequentialist generally (C), Consequentialist Deterrence (CD), Consequentialist Prevention (CP), or Retributivist (R): If we could be sure that a person were going to commit a crime, then we would be doing the right thing to stop this by putting him in prison.

If all acts are determined by various causal factors, then on retributivist grounds punishment as such is unjustified.

Label the following examples of reasons for legal punishment as Consequentialist generally (C), Consequentialist Deterrence (CD), Consequentialist Prevention (CP), or Retributivist (R): If we can decrease the incidence of child abuse by more severe punishments for the abusers, then we should do it.