A634.9.4.RB
A
Reflection of Our Learning
This
has been the third ethics course that I have taken since pursuing higher
education and I must say it has been my favorite. The previous took courses were more in tune
with business but ethics is ethics.
LaFollete’s
(2007) text was very informative.
Everything I read evoked great thought on my part. It gave me great drive to do addition
research. In Part Four: Autonomy, Responsibility, and Risk, LaFollette
discusses the death penalty in chapter 11.
What I read truly motivated me to do more research on the Death Penalty. This was my findings:
RESEARCH
The
Colonies of America from 1608 until 1776 and the United States from 1776 until
2002 have executed 15,269 citizens according to a 32 year study conducted by M.
Watt Espy, Jr. and John Ortiz Smykla (Espy & Smykla, 2016). According to the US Department of Justice
(USDOJ), there have been 1,188 executions carried out in the United States from
1977 to 2009 (USDOJ, 2010).
There
have been many methods of execution of the past 400 years. Some would be considered very inhumane. The methods have been:
- Asphyxiation
– Gas chamber
- Bludgeoned/Broken
on a wheel
- Burned
- Electrocuted
- Gibbeted
- Hanged
- Lethal
injection
- Pressing
- Shot – Firing
squad
(Espy and Smykla, 2016)
I
believe that most would say that being bludgeoned to death, burned, gibbeted,
and crushed to death under heavy weight (pressing) are indeed cruel and unusual
means of execution. During my research,
I discovered there was only one recorded execution by pressing. According to Heather Snyder (Snyder, 2001),
Giles Corey was executed by pressing in Essex County, Massachusetts on
September 18, 1692, accused of witchcraft.
The death penalty is controversial enough – image if these execution
methods were still in use today?
Upon
further investigation, I also discovered that execution was most widely used
from 1930 – 1939, lethal injection is the most common method used, 20 – 29 is
the age range of the majority of executions, there has been 365 females between
1608 and 2002, and there have been 14,753 males executed in that same time
frame (Espy & Smykla, 2016).
I
believe the most controversial topic regarding the death penalty if the race of
the person executed. Those against
capital punishment make the argument that most people executed are
minorities. Below is the execution
demographic of those executed from 1608 – 2002:
Asian Black Hispanic Native American White
147 7353 349 362 6344
Separately,
it would seem that white (41.5%) and black (48.2%) people are the largest
groups who are executed. However, when
the term minority is used it usually encompasses all persons considered to be a
minority. With the above mentioned
examples, it would appear that 8211 (53.8%) minorities were executed and 6344
(41.5%) white were executed.
Now
let’s look at executions from 1977 to 2009:
Asian Black Hispanic Native American White
6 411 91 8 672
Collectively,
516 (43.4%) minorities were executed during this time while 672 (56.6%) white
were executed. There is twenty-two years
of overlap but the indication here is that being a minority has nothing to do
with who is executed. I submit that what
truly affects these numbers is socio-economics.
I’d elaborate but think that this discussion is for another time (USDOJ,
2010)
According
to the 2010 US Census, there were 223,745,538 white people living in the US
while there were 107,013,359 minority people living in the US. Based on data from 1997 to 2009, less than
one percent (0.00048218) of minorities were executed based on their demographic
and less than one percent (0.00030034) white were executed based on their
demographic (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011).
But
why do people commit capital crimes? Are
the responsible for their crimes if they are young, have learning disabilities,
and have diminished mental capacities? What is our responsibility as a
society? Do we consider their upbringing
(socio-economics)? Should the punishment
fit the crime? Who should be put to
death and why?
A
recent case in the state of Florida actually answers many of these
questions. Markeith Lloyd has been
charged with the murder of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon (the un-born
child died also) on December 13, 2016 and then murders Orlando Police
Department Lieutenant Debra Clayton just 27 days later on January 9, 2017. In a strange twist, State Attorney, Aramis
Ayala, made a public statement stating that she would not be seeking the death
penalty in Lloyd’s case. Her publicly
stated reasoning is, "I have given this issue extensive, painstaking
thought and consideration. What has
become abundantly clear through this process is that while I currently do have
discretion to pursue death sentences, I have determined that doing so is not in
the best interests of this community or in the best interests of justice. After
careful review and consideration of the new statute, under my administration I
will not be seeking the death penalty." (Cordieiro, 2017). This caused public outrage and Governor Rick
Scott removed her from the case and asked for her recusal. I believe that her statement is based on
personal conviction and has nothing to do with justice.
Lloyd
was found fit to stand trial and even requested to represent himself. He is of an age to be aware of right and
wrong. He does come from an oppressed
upbringing. Being a supporter of capital
punishment, he should be put to death.
His crimes were so heinous and done in cold blood that this is the
correct course of action. It isn’t up to
the prosecutor to determine his punishment but up to a jury of his peers.
The next
lesson that spoke volumes to me is found in Part Three: Life and Death. In chapter 9, LaFollette discusses Slippery
Slope Arguments. According to LaFollette
(2007, pg. 130), “The moral roads on which we travel are slippery. Our individual and collective actions
inevitably affect others, ourselves, and our institutions. They shape the people we become and the kind
of world we inhabit. They increase or
decrease the likelihood, however slight, that certain futures will occur. Sometimes those consequences are positive, a giant
leap for moral humankind. Other times
they are detrimental or morally regressive.”
Essentially, if you do that
then this will happen. So basically, don’t do that.
Until
I did some research for this discussion, I thought that the term slippery slope stood on its own with a
general understanding. However,
according to Logically Fallacious (2017), Slippery Slope is “also known as
absurd extrapolation, thin edge of the wedge, camel's nose, domino fallacy.” If
someone had used one of these terms previous to this knowledge, I probably
would have had no idea what they were talking about.
I, for one, do my best to avoid the slippery slope. However, I see it affect students, every
day. I have kids who violate dress code,
attendance, and tardiness habitually.
Once they get into a rhythm, they continue to slide until they reach a
point that they are suspended or their grades suffer. I talk to them until I am blue in the face
but they just don’t get it.
Finally, Part Six: The Demands on Morality, chapter 18,
Egoism: Psychology and Moral really got my brain to bubbling. According
to Stephen O. Sullivan and Philip A. Pecorino (2002), “Ethical egoism is a
normative theory. As previously indicated, it recommends, favors, praises
a certain type of action or motivation, and decries another type of motivation.
It has two versions: individual ethical egoism and universal ethical egoism. In
the first version one ought to look out for one's own interests. I ought to be
concerned about others only to the extent that this also contributes to my own
interests. In the second version, everybody ought to act in their own
best interest, and they ought to be concerned about others only to the extent
that this also contributes to their own interests.” I believe that egoism goes hand and hand with
narcissism. Self-absorption is another
descriptive term for the egotist. Egoism
has no position in the workplace. It
becomes a hindrance and a distraction.
Over the course of my 27-year Army career, I met many
egotistical people. These people were so
self-centered and self-absorbed. Always
talking about themselves and what they could do for the organization. When I was promoted to Sergeant First Class
and put in-charge of a Recruiting Station I placed a sign on my desk and it
read…“Check your ego at the door”. However, my Recruiters did not always do
this. An example of how ego would get in
the way of ethical decision is when a Recruiter is a “Super Star” but suddenly
starts failing. Now the Recruiter starts
cutting corners, omitting disqualifying information, and fabricating things to
get his or her numbers up to continue appearing as a Super Star. A tangled web. A tangled web, indeed.
In LaFollette’s text (2007, pg. 272), egoism is regarded
two ways. Psychological egoism and
ethical egoism. LaFollette states that
psychological egoism “seems to fit ordinary observations about what motivates
people…If we reflect on our own lives and the lives of our friends, we are no
different. Doing what we want often
makes us happy, while we are usually dissatisfied if we cannot do what we
want”. I see this often and find it to
be very selfish. Not just selfish but
juvenile. I can equate this to children
on the playground. Billy wants to play
on the teeter totter but Susy wants to play on the swings. Billy throws a tantrum to get his way.
Although not the polar opposite, ethical egoists are
different from their psychological egoist brethren. According to LaFollette (2007, pg. 281), “An
ethical egoist is not an immoralist. The
immoralist says there is no such thing as morality. Such a view is untenable, for, according to
the theory, others would not act wrongly if they killed or assaulted her…The
ethical egoist is not vulnerable to such quick dismissals. She claims there is one moral standard:
namely, that each of us should act in ways that maximize our own
self-interest.” It is not wrong if it is
important to the individual. As long as
it betters what they wish to attain.
This is similar to the race car driver that notices that his opponent
has a bubble in his tire. The bubble can
cause a blow-out and multiple wrecks on the track but gives the ethical egoist
an advantage if this happens. The
ethical egoist knows that his opponent probably will not be hurt so it is worth
the risk.
Finally, from my Army experience, I do believe that “rank
has its privileges”. Leaders have
climbed the corporate ladder and should receive benefits that others do
not. When I worked for Northrop Grumman,
I had a private inner office. However,
my director had a much bigger private outer office with windows. She had earned her position and was entitled
to her office. This motivated me to want
the same thing. I’m sure that if I
hadn’t been laid off, I would have had that window office by now. I guess I am a bit of an egoist.
References
Espy, M. W. and Smykla, J. O. (2016, December 9). US Executions from 1608 – 2002.
Retrieved from
http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004087
US
Department of Justice (USDOJ) US
Bureau of Justice Statistics (USBJS) , "Capital
Punishment, 2009 - Statistical Tables - Number of Persons Executed by Race,
Hispanic Origin, and Method, 1977-2009," Dec. 2, 2010
LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing
Snyder, H. (2001, Spring). Giles Corey. Retrieved from http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/people?group.num=&mbio.num=mb6
U.S. Census Bureau. (2011, March). Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010.
Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf
Cordiero, M. (2017, March 13). State Attorney Aramis Ayala won't pursue the death penalty during her
term. Retrieved from
http://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2017/03/16/state-attorney-aramis-ayala-wont-pursue-the-death-penalty-during-her-term
Logically Fallacious. (2017). Slippery Slope. Retrieved from
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/162/Slippery_Slope
Sullivan, S. O. and Pecorino, P. A. (2002). Ethical
egoism. Retrieved from http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/ETHICS_TEXT/Chapter_5_Teleological_Theories_Egoism/Ethical_Egoism.htm
