Utilitarianism is an ethic theory which is ends-based. Utilitarianism says that the moral thing to do in any situation is whatever will result in the greatest benefit for the greatest number of people.
A utilitarian would be against the death penalty because all suffering is morally wrong and evil. Therefore if the punishment includes any sort of pain or suffering then it involves going through with an evil or morally bad action. The death penalty includes pain and suffering, and suffering is bad and can only be accepted on utilitarian grounds if the amount of pain is outweighed by the benefits to the community, meaning if there the death sentence for someone brings more good than bad to the community, it would be categorised as a morally good action, as it is benefiting the greatest number of people. A utilitarian would also accept the idea of the death penalty if good cannot be created in any other possible way which isn’t as harsh and brutal or that just doesn’t involve suffering. In this instance a utilitarian would think that the punishment is severe, however if it results in the society avoiding something more severe than it is fine, equally the punishment will not be reasonable and right if there is another way to prevent offenses which is more effective and does not contain distress. Since an action which causes someone agonies is morally wrong an evil, it must be removed whenever possible and is not okay when its consequences don’t end in more good than evil and suffering
One of the main benefits for the punishment which supports utilitarianism is if the punishment is declared on a certain individual it reduces the crime rate by scaring and warning people of the consequences if they commit a terrible crime and by making criminals incapable of committing more crimes in the future, inevitably resulting in more good than bad as the punishment results in loads of people becoming safer and not in as much danger as there isn’t a dangerous criminal roaming around, and makes the prisoners who are in the same prison as the criminal more safe.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Utilitarianism
Pros of Utilitarianism; There are many strengths of utilitarianism such as it is very logical and easy to understand. It also provides a clear justification for moral decisions. It can work well on a large scale, social level and it does what benefits the most amount of people so it seems democratic and fair.
Cons of Utilitarianism; although there are some great strengths there are some weaknesses with the ethic theories such as you can't always predict the consequences in advance, it pays no attention to the means or motives which are arguably important and should be considered. And also it is based on benefiting the most amount of people however is the beneficial thing always "right"