Bentham & Paper Proposal

According to Jeremy Bentham’s four cases in which punishment should not be inflicted, I think the case of Dudley and Stephens does fit his criteria for “a case unmeet for punishment”. In this situation, Dudley and Stephens killed Parker as a last resort when they thought there was no other way they could survive any longer without food. Therefore, I think this situation would fit under the criteria that punishment if needless. It is extremely unlikely that Dudley and Stephens will be in this same type of situation again so they probably will not murder anyone else under the same circumstances. Punishment is needless because these two men will not continue murdering because of this one extreme situation in which they made a hard decision. Dudley and Stephen’s case also falls under Jeremy Bentham’s claim that punishment should not be inflicted when it must be inefficacious. Again, this was an extreme situation that only a few people will ever be put into. If Dudley and Stephens ever were to be in the same situation, the punishment would probably not keep them from murdering another person in order to save themselves. Although this situation is very rare, this punishment would probably not impact the decision of a person at sea worried if they will survive to be saved.

I do not think Dudley and Stephens should be punished. If they had not killed Parker, all four men probably would have died before they were saved. In this case, the murder of one boy saved three other men. Punishment in this situation, as seen with Jeremy Bentham’s claims, will not have an impact on similar future cases like this; a person placed in the same situation would probably be more worried about his survival than a punishment he might receive once back on land. Also, the death of Parker saved the lives of Dudley and Parker, but now by killing them there is producing more harm overall. I do think Bentham’s criteria are good tools for determining whether punishment is just and fair. I think these claims help one to think about not only whether a person is guilty of committing a crime or not, but if that punishment will actually fix or help the problem the mischief caused.

For my final paper, I would like to write about the positive and negative impacts of new technology on court case decisions. Technology has allowed the public to obtain more information regarding cases, but the media also presents this information in a biased view. Also, more people have access to watch court cases now that they are recorded and streamed on the Internet or television. However, the information presented to the public is controlled and manipulated by the media. This can present a problem when members of the jury and possibly the judge see the media coverage and develop opinions before they actually appear in court.