MORAL ISSUE ON DEATH

PENALTY
 The primary duty of the state is to promote the welfare of its citizen.
In this regard, the purpose of the state is the protection and promotion
of the general good.
 It is the duty of the state to uphold the law and apply sanctions
whenever it is necessary if it is the means in order to uphold and
defend the rights of all citizens, maintain public order and tranquility,
and promote the common welfare.
 The authorities of the state have the responsibility to determine,
enunciate, and apply the positive law, and thereby, impose punishment
whenever there is a need for such.
 In view of upholding justice and restoring the order in a community,
there are societies that consider capital punishment as the urgent
solutions to the social or political problems.
 Any person who would be doing evil deeds must be necessarily be
punished. In a society, the authority to punish is given to the state
 Punishment should be imposed solely for the purpose of retribution ,
rehabilitation, and deterrence.
 Retribution pays the wrongdoer what he deserves for his evil deeds.
 Rehabilitation helps the wrongdoer to err no more
 Deterrence discourage the other members of the society from doing
similar actions.
 Retribution pays the wrongdoer what he deserves for his evil deeds.
 Rehabilitation helps the wrongdoer to err no more
 Deterrence discourage the other members of the society from doing
similar actions.
 The CBCP strongly believes that punishment is given for the purpose
of calling for the preparation and atonement for the sins that have
been committed.
DEATH PENALTY AS PUNISHMENT
ARGUMENT AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
ARGUMENT AGAINST DEATH PENALTY

 The imposition of death penalty cannot be considered morally

acceptable because there is always the possibility that death will be
imposed on innocent human beings.
ARGUMENT AGAINST DEATH PENALTY

The pronouncement made by the CBCP on July 24, 1992, which can still
be applied to us today, was that:
1. There should be relentless pursuit and direct attack on poverty. It has
been found out that most of these people were forced to do certain
crimes due to poverty.
ARGUMENT AGAINST DEATH PENALTY

2. There should be reformation as regards law enforcement and judicial

systems. A lot of people are aware that there are still police scalawags,
lawyers and judges who can be bribed so as to bend the legal system to
the detriment of the poor.
ARGUMENT AGAINST DEATH PENALTY

3. There should also be formation of the penal system so that it may

really be for the purpose of rehabilitating the sinners instead of making
hardened criminals.
4. There should be the cleansing of the police and military ranks
scalawags in uniform, many of whom have perpetrated crimes.
5. There should be a stricter enforcement of the gun ban.
THE MORAL DECISION

 Utilitarianism would consider the death penalty to be morally

acceptable if it is for the purpose of propagating the happiness of the
greatest number of people.
 William David Ross, in his prima facie duty, upholds the duty of
non-maleficence, which says that everyone has the duty not to cause
harm to others, In this regard, Ross may seem to consider that death
penalty is morally unacceptable.
THE MORAL DECISION

 John Rawls, because every human being is inviolable, he, therefore

would consider the death penalty to be morally unacceptable because
he believed that no amount of goodness can supersede the
inviolability of any person.
THE MORAL DECISION

 Natural Law Ethics, upholds the right to life, which is the highest
among all rights. At the same time, it also upholds the principles of
stewardship and the principle of inviolability of life. The natural law
moralists would say that life comes from God and, therefore, it has to
be considered sacred. For this reason, nobody will have the right to
take away one’s life, whether it be the lifeof the others or that of his
own.