On the (Im)morality of the Death Penalty

Abstract

It is generally agreed that to be morally, and in the US, constitutionally, permissible, the death penalty must accord with human dignity. I argue that it does not. To this end, I sketch a conception of dignity, embedded in Kantian moral theory, which helps assess when violations of dignity take place, as well as appreciate the high moral stakes such violations involve.

Keywords: death penalty, dignity, eighth amendment, banishment, slavery