Assignment 9

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Sam Houston State University *

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1301

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Philosophy

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Dec 6, 2023

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Assignment 9 1. According to one author, there are five elements that are essential to the definition of punishment. In other words, to qualify as punishment, these criteria must be satisfied. List them. Does the presence of these criteria ensure that punishment rendered is ethical? - There are at least two persons—one who inflicts the punishment and one who is punished. - The person who inflicts the punishment causes a certain harm to the person who is being punished. - The person who inflicts the punishment has been authorized, under a system of rules or laws, to harm the person who is punished in this particular way. - The person who is being punished has been judged by a representative of that authority to have done what he or she is forbidden to do or failed to do what he or she is required to do by some relevant rule or law. - The harm that is inflicted upon the person who is being punished is specifically for the act or omission mentioned in condition four. (pg.332) No, I do not believe that the presence of these criteria ensures that these punishments are ethical. 2. Retribution comes in three flavors: negative retribution, positive retribution, and permissive retribution. Define the terms. Make up an example that illustrates each position. 3. Negative Retribution: dictates that one who is not guilty must not be punished for a crime. So, since I was found not guilty of murder, I don’t need to be sentenced to prison for punishment. Positive Retribution: demands that one who is guilty ought to be punished. John Henry killed 75 children. He beat and raped them and because of that he was given the death penalty. Permissive Retribution: allows that one who is guilty may be punished. Maya was caught speeding down the highway. The police officer who stopped her had the decision to either give her a warning or a ticket. (pg.332) 3. In its 2014 report, Corrections Corporation of America [CCA] strongly implies that legislators are in the position to impact their businesses in significant ways. Explain

the nexus between private prisons and legislators. What potential ethical issue do you see in the relationship? In the text it states, “What these reports describe is a very troubling association between private prison companies that financially benefit from increased rates of incarceration and legislators who write laws that affect incarceration levels. Private prison companies send large sums of money to legislators’ campaign funds and/or party coffers, and lobbyists for private prisons work with legislators to write laws that result in a greater likelihood of incarceration for illegal immigrants and mandatory minimum sentences that result in more incarceration for drug offenders.” (pg.352) From what I understand from this, is that legislators use their job to increase incarceration levels for the financial gain of private prison companies. The way they are using their position is an ethical issue. It violates Kant’s categorical imperative that states “Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or that of any other, never simply as a means but always at the same time as an end.” 4. Retentionists who believe capital punishment should be continued and abolitionist who believe capital punishment should be banned each pose strong arguments. What is the abolitionist argument for banning capital punishment [there are three points]? Link each point to the appropriate ethical system as referenced in the text. Abolitionists argue that capital punishment doesn’t work to prevent others from committing murder, and because of that, the evil of capital punishment outweighs any potential benefit for society because there is no evidence that states it deters the crime from happening (utilitarian argument). Abolitionists might also utilize the categorical imperative under ethical formalism to argue that deterrence is using the individual as a means to an end. (pg.346) 5. The ethics of care has a place in corrections since it takes the offender’s needs into consideration. But retribution and deterrence also have a place and seem to be contrary to ethics of care. Pollock suggests that there is a middle ground or merger between the two. What term does Pollock give to the middle ground? Define the term. Restorative Justice (pg.342). Restorative justice is a term used to describe programs that seek to move compensation back to center stage in the justice system, instead of retribution. (pg.70)

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