Death and Retribution

2019 ◽  
pp. 32-72
Author(s):  
Benjamin S. Yost
Keyword(s):  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
The Right ◽  
Proportionate Punishment

Any retributivist defense of capital punishment must establish that execution is a morally permissible punishment for at least some first-degree murderers. This chapter makes a case for the permissibility of execution, suggesting that it is sometimes a proportionate punishment. The existence of reasons to execute is thus made plausible. After outlining objections to competing deterrence theories of sentencing, the chapter returns to retributivist considerations, illuminating the affinities of cardinal proportionality and the lex talionis, which states that offenders deserve whatever harm they impose on their victims. Although the talion has a suspect reputation, it can be understood as standing for the unobjectionable principle that punishments must reproduce the relevant wrong-making features of the offense. Accordingly, it can be used to establish the cardinal proportionality of murder and execution. Chapter 1 concludes by showing how the retentionist can repel abolitionist attacks based on the right to life and human dignity.

Dignity

2021 ◽  
pp. 107-160
Author(s):  
William A. Schabas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Medical Treatment ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The Right

Human dignity is not necessarily treated as a human right per se, but it may describe in particular several of the most fundamental rights that concern physical and psychological integrity: the right to life, the prohibition of torture and ill treatment, the prohibition of slavery and servitude, the right to liberty and security, and the recognition as a person before the law. Within these rubrics, some quite specific issues are addressed including the resort to capital punishment and other extreme penalties, the criminalisation of genocide, and the imposition of medical treatment. The references to dignity in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights appear to make up for the absence of any recognition of a supreme being,

KEBIJAKAN MODERASI PIDANA MATI

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 193
Author(s):  
Mei Susanto ◽  
Ajie Ramdan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Life Imprisonment ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Moderation Model ◽  
The Right

ABSTRAKPutusan Nomor 2-3/PUU-V/2007 selain menjadi dasar konstitusionalitas pidana mati, juga memberikan jalan tengah (moderasi) terhadap perdebatan antara kelompok yang ingin mempertahankan (retensionis) dan yang ingin menghapus (abolisionis) pidana mati. Permasalahan dalam penelitian ini adalah bagaimana kebijakan moderasi pidana mati dalam putusan a quo dikaitkan dengan teori pemidanaan dan hak asasi manusia dan bagaimana kebijakan moderasi pidana mati dalam RKUHP tahun 2015 dikaitkan dengan putusan a quo. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian doktrinal, dengan menggunakan bahan hukum primer dan sekunder, berupa peraturan perundang-undangan, literatur, dan hasil-hasil penelitian yang relevan dengan objek penelitian. Penelitian menyimpulkan, pertama, putusan a quo yang memuat kebijakan moderasi pidana mati telah sesuai dengan teori pemidanaan khususnya teori integratif dan teori hak asasi manusia di Indonesia di mana hak hidup tetap dibatasi oleh kewajiban asasi yang diatur dengan undang-undang. Kedua, model kebijakan moderasi pidana mati dalam RKUHP tahun 2015 beberapa di antaranya telah mengakomodasi amanat putusan a quo, seperti penentuan pidana mati di luar pidana pokok, penundaan pidana mati, kemungkinan pengubahan pidana mati menjadi pidana seumur hidup atau penjara paling lama 20 tahun. Selain itu masih menimbulkan persoalan berkaitan dengan lembaga yang memberikan pengubahan pidana mati, persoalan grasi, lamanya penundaan pelaksanaan pidana mati, dan jenis pidana apa saja yang dapat diancamkan pidana mati.Kata kunci: kebijakan, KUHP, moderasi, pidana mati. ABSTRACTConstitutional Court’s Decision Number 2-3/PUU-V/2007, in addition to being the basis of the constitutionality of capital punishment, also provides a moderate way of arguing between retentionist groups and those wishing to abolish the death penalty (abolitionist). The problem in this research is how the moderation policy of capital punishment in aquo decision is associated with the theory of punishment and human rights and how the moderation policy of capital punishment in the draft Criminal Code of 2015 (RKUHP) is related with the a quo decision. This study is doctrinal, using primary and secondary legal materials, in the form of legislation, literature and research results that are relevant to the object of analysis. This study concludes, firstly, the aquo decision containing the moderation policy of capital punishment has been in accordance with the theory of punishment, specificallyy the integrative theory and the theory of human rights in Indonesia, in which the right to life remains limited by the fundamental obligations set forth in the law. Secondly, some of the modes of moderation model of capital punishment in RKUHP of 2015 have accommodated the mandate of aquo decision, such as the determination of capital punishment outside the main punishment, postponement of capital punishment, the possibility of converting capital punishment to life imprisonment or imprisonment of 20 years. In addition, it still raises issues regarding the institutions that provide for conversion of capital punishment, pardon matters, length of delay in the execution of capital punishment, and any types of crime punishable by capital punishment. Keywords: policy, criminal code, moderation, capital punishment.

Right to Life and Capital Punishment in Transnational Judicial Dialogue

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Jimmy Chia-Shin Hsu
Keyword(s):  
Capital Punishment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Soviet Bloc ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Value Choices ◽  
The Us ◽  
Direct Contrast ◽  
Analytical Argument ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The Right

Abstract In this article, I bring the constitutional jurisprudence of major East Asian courts into reconstructive dialogue with that of the United States, South Africa, and several former Soviet-bloc countries, on per se review of capital punishment. This fills in a gap in the literature, which has failed to reflect new developments in Asia. Besides analysing various review approaches, I extrapolate recurrent analytical issues and reconstruct dialogues among these court decisions. Moreover, I place the analysis in historical perspective by periodising the jurisprudential trajectory of the right to life. The contextualised reconstructive dialogues offer multilayered understanding of my central analytical argument: for any court that may conduct per se review of capital punishment in the future, the highly influential South African Makwanyane case does not settle the lesson. The transnational debate has been kept open by the Korean Constitutional Court's decisions, as well as retrospectively by the US cases of Furman and Gregg. This argument has two major points. First, the crucial part of the reasoning in Makwanyane, namely that capital punishment cannot be proven to pass the necessity test under the proportionality review, is analytically inconclusive. The Korean Constitutional Court's decision offers a direct contrast to this point. Second, the exercise of proportionality review of the Makwanyane Court does not attest to the neutrality and objectivity of proportionality review. Rather, what is really dispositive of the outcome are certain value choices inhering in per se review of capital punishment.

scholarly journals Non-universal Human Rights? How Article 6 (2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Undermines Human Rights

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-117
Author(s):  
Billy Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Universal Human Rights ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Right

Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights facilitates inequality regarding the imposition of the death penalty and thus, it cannot ensure universality for the protection of the right to life. Paragraph two of this article states: ‘sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes.’ This article argues that the vagueness of the phrase ‘the most serious crimes’ allows states to undermine human rights principles and human dignity by affording states significant discretion regarding the human rights principles of equality and anti-discrimination. The article posits that this discretion allows states to undermine human dignity and the concept of universal human rights by challenging their universality; by facilitating legal inequality between men and women. Accordingly, it asserts that the implications of not expounding this vague phrase may be far-reaching, particularly in the long-term. The final section of this article offers a potential solution to this problem.

scholarly journals A Brief Analysis on Human Rights from Hannah Arendt’s Criticism

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Janilce Silva Praseres ◽  
Marcelo Ramos Saldanha
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Hannah Arendt ◽  
Ethical Values ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

Abstract: human rights are a set of ethical values whose purpose is to protect and enable the realization of human dignity in its various dimensions and also prevent the reduction of the individual to the condition of object or, above all, the reduction of his condition as subject of rights, such as the right to life, freedom, security, equality. The universal character of human rights protection demonstrates some weaknesses, especially in the transposition into concrete legal systems, so what we propose is a brief analysis of human rights from Hannah Arendt.Uma Breve Análise Acerca dos Direitos Humanos a partir da Crítica de Hannah ArendtResumo: os direitos humanos são um conjunto de valores éticos que têm por finalidade proteger e possibilitar a realização da dignidade humana em suas várias dimensões e, ainda, impedir a redução do indivíduo à condição de objeto ou, sobretudo, a diminuição da sua condição na qualidade de sujeito de direitos, a exemplo o direito à vida, à liberdade, à segurança, à igualdade. O caráter universal de proteção aos direitos humanos demonstra algumas fragilidades, principalmente, na transposição para ordenamentos jurídicos concretos, assim, o que propomos é uma breve análise acerca dos direitos humanos a partir de Hannah Arendt.

The Conservatism of the European Court of Humans Rights Regarding Abortions on Demand

2015 ◽  
pp. 185-196
Author(s):  
Pitsou Anastasia
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Right To Privacy ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
On Demand ◽  
The Right To Privacy ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Right

In this chapter, the authors negotiate the fact that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) missed the opportunity to recognize the right to abortion under specific criteria that are harmonized with the right to life and the right to privacy. It obviously remains a triumph of nationalism and of religious power over human dignity.

Killing in Good Conscience: What's Wrong with Sunstein and Vermeule's Lesser Evil Argument for Capital Punishment and Other Human Rights Violations?

2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Blumenson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Recent Article ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Good Conscience ◽  
Cass Sunstein ◽  
The Right ◽  
Do So ◽  
Lesser Evil

In a recent article, Cass Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule argue that capital punishment is morally required if it will deter more killings than it inflicts. They claim that the state's duty is to minimize the incidence of murder, and that recent deterrence research shows that state executions, even if deemed murders themselves, can do so. If these findings are true, they argue, the state is morally obligated to undertake such "life-life tradeoffs." The logic of Sunstein and Vermeule's argument justifies not only state executions, but any state-perpetrated injustice that promises to reduce the incidence of similar injustices overall, as the authors acknowledge in a comment about torture. Recently such lesser evil arguments have indeed been invoked to justify state torture, detention without trial, and other human rights violations. In this essay, I identify problems that are common to all of these arguments, as illustrated by the well-developed example Sunstein and Vermeule have provided. My aim is to demonstrate that, however valid the lesser evil approach may be in some domains, it fails when invoked to defend state violations of the right to life and other fundamental human rights.

scholarly journals DEATH PENALTY AND THE RIGHT TO LIFE IN HUMAN RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE, THE 1945 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA, AND INDONESIAN LAW

2017 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksidelfa Yanto . .
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Deterrent Effect ◽  
General Nature ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Positive Law ◽  
Legal Power ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Right

The execution of Death penalty in Indonesia is based on the court verdict that has had a permanent legal power. Only through the court ruling a man can be executed a death penalty upon the guilty alleged at him/her. The death penalty application in Indonesia is provided in the positive law with specific or general nature. As a country having the most verdicts with the capital punishment, either to its local citizen or to the foreign citizen who commits any offenders in the jurisdiction of Republic of Indonesia, triggering the existing of pro and contra stance on the capital punishment execution. The opposing stance based its argument on the human rights perspective, affirming that the capital punishment can be categorized as a form of savage and inhuman punishment and is in the contrary with the constitution. While the stance supporting the capital punishment execution is based on the argumentation that the perpetrator must be avenged in compliance with his/her commit, in order to give a deterrent effect for others who want to commit similar offense. Nevertheless as a matter of fact, there are still many similar offense occurred though capital punishment has been implemented.<br /><br />Keywords : Capital punishment, rights to live and human rights.

scholarly journals PIDANA PENJARA SEUMUR HIDUP ATAU PIDANA MATI (KONFIGURASI DILEMATIS ANTARA HUKUM DAN KEMANUSIAAN)

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 1984
Author(s):  
I.G.A.A Fitria Chandrawati
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Life Imprisonment ◽  
Daily Newspapers ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
Criminal Sanctions ◽  
Psychological Suffering ◽  
The Right

Tujuan Penelitian adalah untuk menganalisis sanksi pidana penjara seumur hidup menjadi alternatif dari penjatuhan sanksi pidana mati  dan mengidentifikasi esensi antara pidana penjara seumur hidup dengan pidana mati. Penelitian ini memakai jenis penelitian hukum normative dengan pendekatan perundang-undangan, pendekatan historis dan kasus. Dengan ditunjang bahan hukum primer beberapa undang – undang yang menganut penerapan pidana mati, bahan sekunder teks – buku – buku hukum pidana, bahan jurnal – jurnal hukum, bahan tersier, kamus, ensiklopedi, harian surat kabar, teknis analisis deskriptif interpretatif – evaluatif argumentatif. Dengan simpulan temuan bahwa pidana penjara seumur hidup  sering sebagai alternatif (pengganti) dari pidana mati guna menghindari kekeliruan dalam penjatuhan sanksi, juga untuk menghargai hak hidup seseorang sesuai prinsip HAM. Esensi pidana penjara seumur hidup dibandingkan dengan pidana mati sama – sama menyebabkan penderitaan fisik dan psikis bagi terpidananya, sanksi pidana tetap menimbulkan rasa derita, pembalasan dan sebagai bentuk pertanggung jawaban hukum bagi pelaku tindak pidana. The aim of this research is to analyze life criminal law into criminal sanctions and verified life imprisonment. This research using a type of normative legal research with an approach legislation, historical approach and case approach. With supported by primary legal material several laws that adhere application of capital punishment, secondary legal materials in the form of texts, books criminal law, legal journals, tertiary material in the form of dictionaries, encyclopedias, daily newspapers and using material analysis techniques law in the form of descriptive analysis techniques interpretative-evaluative-argumentative, with the conclusion that life imprisonment often as an alternative (substitute) to capital punishment to avoid mistakes in imposing sanctions, too to better respect the right to life of a person according to human rights principles. Essence life imprisonment compared to capital punishment together causing physical and psychological suffering for the conviction, sanctions crime still causes pain, retribution and forms legal liability for perpetrators of criminal acts.

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