Against Capital Punishment
Against Capital Punishment
execution. Proceduralists do not shoulder the burden of demonstrating that heinous murderers deserve a punishment less than death. However, proceduralist arguments often pay insufficient attention to the importance of punishment; many imply the highly contentious claim that no type of criminal
sanction is legitimate. In Against Capital Punishment, Benjamin S. Yost revitalizes the core of proceduralism both by examining the connection between procedural injustice and the impermissibility of capital punishment and by offering a comprehensive argument of his own which confronts proceduralism's most significant
shortcomings. Yost is the first author to develop and defend the irrevocability argument against capital punishment, demonstrating that the irremediability of execution renders capital punishment impermissible. His contention is not that the act of execution is immoral, but rather that the
possibility of irrevocable mistakes precludes the just administration of the death penalty. Shoring up proceduralist arguments for the abolition of the death penalty, Against Capital Punishment carries with it implications not only for the continued use of the death penalty in the criminal justice system, but also for the structure and integrity of the system as a whole.
Author: Benjamin S. Yost
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 03/13/2019
Pages: 296
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.70w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780190901165
Review Citation(s):
Choice 09/01/2020
About the Author
Benjamin S. Yost is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Providence College and has previously taught at Harvard University and Cornell University. His specializations include the philosophy of punishment and Kant's practical philosophy, with his published work appearing in journals such as Utilitas, Journal of the American Philosophical Association, Kantian Review, and Continental Philosophy Review. He is currently co-editing a volume entitled Philosophers on the Movement for Black Lives.