Capital punishment Quote by Steven Pinker
““Today capital punishment is widely seen as a human rights violation. In 2007 the UN General Assembly voted 105–54 (with 29 abstentions) to declare a nonbinding moratorium on the death penalty, a measure that had failed in 1994 and 1999.70 One of the countries that opposed the resolution was the United States. As with most forms of violence, the United States is an outlier among Western democracies (or perhaps I should say “are outliers,” since seventeen states, mostly in the North, have abolished the death penalty as well—four of them within the past two years—and an eighteenth has not carried out an execution in forty-five years).””
About This Quote
Source Speech: Interview on Capital Punishment, 2015
The death penalty is increasingly viewed as a human rights breach, with many nations, including most US states, moving away from it.
In simple terms: Many see the death penalty as a rights violation and are ending it.
Key Takeaway
Advocate for humane justice policies.
Themes
human rights
justice
policy
violence
democracy
Mood
concerned
analytical
Type
policy
ethical
analytical
When to use this quote
- legislative debates
- court sentencing
- public opinion
- activist campaigns
Key Concepts
ethical law
international norms
punishment reform
Questions to Reflect On
- How can societies balance justice and human rights?
- What drives the US to differ from peers?
A Different Perspective
Implementation varies widely; some jurisdictions retain it despite global trends.
![“[T]here are some human rights that are so deep that we can't negotiate them away. I mean people do heinous, terrible things. But there are basic human rights I believe that every human being has. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the United Nations says it for me. And it says there are…” quote by Sister Helen Prejean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5c4/sister-helen-prejean-94083_an-eye-for-an-eye_t-here-are-some-human-rights-that-are-so_222080.jpg)
![“The law which attempts a man's life [capital punishment] is impractical, unjust, inadmissible. It has never repressed crime--for a second crime is every day committed at the foot of the scaffold.” quote by Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b85/marquis-de-sade-1964_capital-punishment_the-law-which-attempts-a-man-s-life-capi_99486.jpg)
