In This Selection Bedau First Draws an Analogy Between Self-Defense

question 8

Multiple Choice

In this selection Bedau first draws an analogy between self-defense and the death penalty. Just as in defending ourselves we are to use no more force than is necessary to prevent harm, so in punishing criminals we are to use no more violence than is necessary to adequately punish the criminal. Bedau then argues that neither the deterrence nor the retributive argument for capital punishment is a good argument. He thinks that the literal application of the lex talionis is barbaric and that long-term imprisonment is adequate punishment.
-Blum argues that not every instance of racial conflict, insensitivity, or discomfort is

• A) racial.
• B) worthy of concern.
• C) racist.
• D) identifiable.

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Definitions:

Public Funds

Money collected by the government from taxes or other sources intended for public expenditure on services and infrastructure.

Unconstitutional

Referring to actions, laws, or policies that are deemed to violate the principles or provisions of a constitution, particularly that of a nation or state.

Bowers V. Hardwick

A controversial 1986 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of a law criminalizing consensual homosexual acts, later overturned by Lawrence v. Texas in 2003.

Consensual Homosexual Activity

Sexual relations between same-sex partners that are agreed upon without coercion.