The Death Penalty: An African Perspective
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Date
2012-12-04
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Publisher
Ghana Journal of Religion and Theology (GJRT)
Abstract
Global debates about whether the death
penalty should be abolished or not typically revolve around
three main questions: (1) what are the legitimate purpose of
punishment (the purposes argument), (2) whether any acts
are so heinous that their perpetrators truly deserve to die
(the desert argument), and (3) whether the fact that a
community continues to use capital punishment is generally
expressive of virtuous, or vicious, character traits among
. its citizenry (the character argument). This article contends
that because the different concerns of these three arguments
are not always fully appreciated, abolitionists and
retentionists often talk past one another. To illustrate this,
we explore the implications of each type of argument in the
context of indigenous African morality, showing how each
argument takes on new meanings with different degrees of
explanatory force. While we do not propose a specific
resolution to the global death .penalty debate, we do reach
conclusions about how participants in this global
conversation ought to proceed.
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Article
Keywords
Death Penalty, African Perspective