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Single Idea 14814

[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 3. Punishment / a. Right to punish ]

Full Idea

Why does execution offend us more than murder? It is the coldness of the judges, the painful preparation, the use of a man to deter others. For guilt is not being punished, which lies in the educators, parents, environment, in us, not in the murderer.

Gist of Idea

Execution is worse than murder, because we are using the victim, and really we are the guilty

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (Human, All Too Human [1878], 070)

Book Ref

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Human, All Too Human', ed/tr. Faber,Marion [Penguin 1994], p.58

A Reaction

Someone was stabbed to death in Oxford Street yesterday (26 Dec 11), and we all feel horribly that London is responsible for producing this event, even if we try and load all the blame onto one youth with a knife. Oscar Wilde endorsed this idea.

The 21 ideas with the same theme [what grounds the right of the state to punish]:

22604 Punishing a criminal for moral ignorance is the same as punishing someone for being blind [Epictetus]
23368 Perhaps we should persuade culprits that their punishment is just? [Epictetus]
7294 No crime and no punishment without a law [Roman law]
23268 We execute irredeemable people, to protect ourselves, as a deterrent, and ending a bad life [Galen]
2380 Punishment should only be for reform or deterrence [Hobbes]
19867 Reparation and restraint are the only justifications for punishment [Locke]
19869 Punishment should make crime a bad bargain, leading to repentance and deterrence [Locke]
19912 Self-defence is natural, but not the punishment of superiors by inferiors [Locke]
12936 There are natural rewards and punishments, like illness after over-indulgence [Leibniz]
20002 The death penalty is permissible, because its victims enjoyed the protection of that law [Montesquieu]
20010 If religion teaches determinism, penalties must be severe; if free will, then that is different [Montesquieu]
19809 We accept the death penalty to prevent assassinations, so we must submit to it if necessary [Rousseau]
19810 A trial proves that a criminal has broken the social treaty, and is no longer a member of the state [Rousseau]
21088 Justice asserts the death penalty for murder, from a priori laws [Kant]
7219 Society can punish actions which it believes to be prejudicial to others [Mill]
20232 Get rid of the idea of punishment! It is a noxious weed! [Nietzsche]
24098 Reasons that justify punishment can also justify the crime [Nietzsche]
14814 Execution is worse than murder, because we are using the victim, and really we are the guilty [Nietzsche]
23852 To punish people we must ourselves be innocent - but that undermines the desire to punish [Weil]
6572 Deterrence, prevention, rehabilitation and retribution can come into conflict in punishments [Fogelin]
6573 Retributivists say a crime can be 'paid for'; deterrentists still worry about potential victims [Fogelin]