the same respect as national security. Perhaps, supporting armies and war is far more barbarous than the death penalty. One reason nations exist is to defend citizens from criminals. When they fail to do that, they fail their citizens. When a society ignores its moral duty to defend the safety of its citizens they are leaving them at the mercy of criminals. If capital punishment can guarantee the safety of the citizens the best, and it thus benefits society, then from a utilitarian standpoint it is morally permissible. John Mill states: "Does fining a criminal show want of respect for poverty, or imprisoning him, for personal freedom? Just as unreasonable it is to think that to take the life of a man who has taken that of another is to show want of regard for human life. We show on the contrary...our regard for it, by the adoption of a rule that he who violates that right in another forfeits it for himself and that while no other crime he can commit deprives him of his right to live, this shall" (Siegel, 66).The recidivism rate for capital punishment is zero. No executed murderer has ever killed again. One can't say that about those sentenced to prison, even if you are an abolitionist. ...
