The reader can probably fill in the blanks: just as we wouldn’t accept the justification “but that guy was evil” as a good one in the case of ordinary murder, maybe we should also be skeptical when the state makes the same excuse for capital punishment.
I wouldn’t accept “that guy was evil” in the case of ordinary murder, because “is unjustified” is baked into the definition of “murder”, not because that would be a non-central example. I might accept it in the case of killing rather than murder.
Furthermore, I’d point to the fact that many arguments against capital punishment prove too much. Would you accept “that guy was evil” in the case of ordinary kidnapping? Does that mean that we should be skeptical when the state makes this argument for prison?
I wouldn’t accept “that guy was evil” in the case of ordinary murder, because “is unjustified” is baked into the definition of “murder”, not because that would be a non-central example. I might accept it in the case of killing rather than murder.
Furthermore, I’d point to the fact that many arguments against capital punishment prove too much. Would you accept “that guy was evil” in the case of ordinary kidnapping? Does that mean that we should be skeptical when the state makes this argument for prison?