Editor:

The moratorium campaign, the mainstream opposition to capital punishment, is established on the principles of social justice.

It views society as responsible for the death penalty, the result of a culture of violence and individuals not performing their duty to protest such policies.

Its favored solution rests on individuals’ social responsibility to be involved in political activism to petition government for a change, therefore any individual not involved in the political process accepts government policies through their passivity.

The state, idealized as an absolute being as opposed to a band of individuals, demonstrates the flaw of conventional social justice philosophy, namely lack of accountability.

Holding a monopoly of power over its citizens, government officials can make decisions and institute policies without facing any individual repercussions or any individuals or entities that can legitimately threaten their superior position and motivate them to adjust practices and policies.

When any individual or group of individuals can act as they please without facing consequences, as can the government given its authority, who or what can set any form of limitation or consequences for them?

Under such a code, what encourages individuals to respect fellow individuals if they are not held responsible for their actions?

According to social justice philosophy, every individual in society is partly responsible for the actions of everyone else.

What the mainstream opposition proposes, government reform, fails to substantially stimulate a radical change in the criminal justice system, for the state still maintains its authority.

Instead of taking power away from the state, opposition groups simply want control of the system to change hands to those politicians they believe will best suit their desires.

In favoring such a solution, accountability of actions, in this case capital punishment, is still socialized and individuals are still not held rightfully liable.

The fact of the matter is that so long as individual accountability is socialized to a group such as society or government, injustice and inefficiency will characterize activity and policy.

By allowing government to maintain such supreme command, mandating policies for the benefit of the groups represented by the particular individuals in office at the expense of others, criminal justice will remain in its current condition.

As innocent individuals are wrongfully accused and executed, there is no compensation or responsibility placed on the state, for the state has nothing to lose given its presupposed sovereign status.

Further, there is no incentive for the state to provide and perform law enforcement and judicial services in an efficient, just manner, given the lack of alternatives presented to the citizenry.

Until individuals decide to put their efforts into minimizing the clout of the government instead of petitioning politicians for their own advancement, people will continue to live within this setting of oppression, injustice and capital punishment.

Erich Matteieconomics senior