“It is noteworthy that prominent abolitionists, such as Charles
Black, Hugo Adam Bedau, Ramsey Clark, and Henry Schwarzschild, have admitted to
Ernest van den Haag that even if every execution were to deter a hundred
murders, they would oppose it, from which van den Haag concludes "to these
abolitionist leaders, the life of every murderer is more valuable than the
lives of a hundred prospective victims, for these abolitionists would spare the
murderer, even if doing so will cost a hundred future victims their
lives." Black and Bedau said they would favor abolishing the death penalty
even if they knew that doing so would increase the homicide rate 1,000 per
cent. This response of abolitionists is puzzling, since one of Bedau's
arguments against the death penalty is that it doesn't bring back the dead.
"We cannot do anything for the dead victims of crime. (How many of those who
oppose the death penalty would continue to do so if, mirabile dictu, executing
the murderer might bring the victim back to life?)" Apparently, he would
support the death penalty if it brought a dead victim back to life, but not if
it prevented a hundred innocent victims from being murdered.”
["Why the Death Penalty Is Morally
Permissible," from the 2004 book edited by Adam Bedau and titled Debating
the Death Penalty: Should America Have Capital Punishment?]
AUTHOR: Louis Paul Pojman (April
22, 1935-October 15, 2005) was an American philosopher and professor, whose
name is most recognized as the author of over a hundred philosophy texts and
anthologies which he himself read at more than sixty universities around the
world and which continue to be used widely for educational purposes. Pojman was
known for work in applied ethics and philosophy of religion.
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