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Montagues Theory of Justice & Capital Punishment

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Montague 's Justification of Capital Punishment

Capital punishment has been the debate of many legislatures and courts throughout the world . Way back in history , civilizations have already practiced capital punishment in their justice systems while some others also forbid its application . Still , there have been various arguments in different countries around the world up to the present time if capital punishment should really be included in the set of punishments of the national society . Montague discussed such arguments and

also laid out the different principles to understand the concept of the justification of capital punishment . This was evidently accomplished by explaining his theory of justice and the so-called comparative and non-comparative principles of justice that are very crucial in the deliberation of capital punishment as a method of societal-defense

Montague explicitly stated that the justification of capital punishment is directly connected to the justification of punishment in general (Montague 131 . To justify that the implementation of capital punishment it is first important to justify the implementation of punishment and penalties in society . Upon proving that punishments done to persons who violate certain laws is justified as societal-defense one also proves that capital punishment is a rightful method of giving justice to victims . In to clearly rationalize the use of capital punishment , it is important that it be rationalized in principle and in practice

To validate that capital punishment is just in principle one has to examine its very nature whether a society considers such punishment to be morally right or wrong . Thus , principled justifications concern the moral values that a society has and implicitly relates this set of moral beliefs to whether capital punishment is wrong or correct . Conversely to label capital punishment as practically justifiable , one has to look beyond the theoretical concept of punishments . This means that , in reality , where specific situations are concerned , the question that has importance is that , is capital punishment applicable to this specific person because of this specific violation that he or she has committed In this circumstance then , it is required that to justify capital punishment , one has to prove that by implementing this particular punishment , unacceptable actions that may be done by suspected persons are successfully prevented . Thus , by preventing individual persons in society from doing criminal acts , capital punishment becomes justifiable . An analogy that can better improve such explanation is the relationship between self-defense and societal defense (Montague 132 In majority of the populations in various countries , if not throughout the world , self-defense is justified because it is considered protection of innocent individuals . For example , a woman , which is about to be raped kills her assailant in defense of herself . This is considered justice since the woman acts in accordance with the moral that it would be better that a criminal die rather than a victim . Looking at societal-defense , such situation is somewhat similar . In societal-defense , the criminal is given death penalty to act agreeably with the protection of...

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