This research examines the subject of capital punishment from a philosophical perspective. The research will set forth the historical context in which death-penalty philosophy emerged as a significant issue of social and civic discourse and then discuss prevailing philosophical and religious views of capital punishment, both for and against, with particular emphasis on philosophical views. Whether capital punishment acts a deterrent for the commission of crimes in general will also be discussed.
The practice of capital punishment, or a state-sanctioned death penalty for certain crimes, appears to be as ancient as history. The Code of Hammurabi, discovered only in AD 1902 but estimated to have been promulgated between 2100 and 1700 BC, was the first systematic attempt to foster disinterested, impartial state governance -- at least as the concept was understood in the Mesopotamian context, which fused autocracy, patriarchy, and theocracy (Wells 184; Hayes, et al. 10). The Code deals extensively with property and agricultural rights and military obligations, all of which function at the king's pleasure. Men are required to serve in the armed forces (Edwards 32), and disloyal refusal inheres in death and deprivation of property. Military expeditions appear to lie exclusively at royal discretion, for repeated references are made to the fact that soldiers may be obliged to fight, in person, on the king's behalf (Edwards 32-33). Military misfortune in general belongs to the king, not his subjects. Thus military officers may not hire mercenary soldiers to fight in their place (Edwards 33), and the penalty for a commander who attempts to do so is death.
Ancient attachment to capital punishment in Mesopotamia has persisted as a feature of civil society throughout the historical period. The Hebrew Bible, which appears to have been reduced to writing in about 800 BC, presents a somewhat ambiguous picture of the relationship between human soc...