“I have been brought up in a culture where capital punishment is indeed anathema. I have always thought of myself as a principled opponent to capital punishment. However, when thinking about how the topic is handled in other cultures, in particular the American, Russian and Chinese ones, I have realised that my own tack on the issue was utterly superficial.” ThinkingHas BeensCultureMy OwnIssuesParticularPunishmentChineseOpponentsSuperficialTopicsRealisedCapital PunishmentOther CulturesPrincipledAnathema Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“I have now come to the conclusion (roughly) that capital punishment is defensible, if it can be shown to have a deterrent effect on murder. In that case, a few executions save not only some people from being murdered but also some people from becoming murders.” PeopleIfsCasesEffectsBecomingMurderPunishmentConclusionExecutionCapital PunishmentDeterrent Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“It is hard to tell if capital punishment has such an effect. And even if, in some contexts it has (such as in the American South with a very high incidence of murder), this effect may very well go away if a decent welfare state was replaced for the existing social order.” IfsWellsMayHardStatesOrderSocialEffectsMurderSouthPunishmentWelfareDecentGoing AwayReplacedWelfare StateSocial OrderCapital PunishmentIncidence Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“I want to think that there are better ways of obviating murder than to resort to capital punishment, but I realise that this may be wishful thinking on my part.” ThinkingWayWantMayMurderPunishmentRealisingResortsBetter WaysWishful ThinkingCapital Punishment Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
