For some violent crimes committed within our society, particularly murder, it is clear that they should result in a more severe punishment or sentence than that of other typically minor crimes such as robbery. What society doesn't seem to agree on is what that punishment should be. Of all the available options, the only form of legal punishment that continues to be controversial is that of capital punishment, or, as it is commonly called, the death penalty. No other form of legal punishment in the United States raises more moral and ethical questions than the topic of capital punishment. Both sides of the death penalty dispute are highly polarized in their positions on the issue, with little to no middle ground in the ongoing debate. In general, the main arguments of both sides focus on the question of whether or not the death penalty can be considered a single one, whether or not the death penalty is a deterrent to crime and finally other considerations, such as financial costs, for determine the morality of the practice. In this article I will explore the arguments for and against capital punishment to determine whether or not it is ethical. The concept of capital punishment has long been part of human civilization with the first known laws mentioning it being the Code of Hammurabi in the 18th century BC. In the United States the death penalty has been part of the legal system since colonial times, with the first recorded legal execution occurred in the Jamestown Colony in 1608. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court in Furman v. Georgia ruled that the death penalty, as currently practiced, was unconstitutional and established a moratorium on capital punishment in the United States. This sentence was overturned in... half of the paper... and by the crime. According to this principle, according to Kant, the only morally permissible punishment for murder is the confiscation of the life of the offender. Kant himself states this: However, if he has committed murder, he must die. In this case, there is no substitute that satisfies the requirement of legal justice. There is no gender equality between death and remaining alive in the most miserable conditions, and consequently there is also no equality between crime and punishment unless the criminal is judicially put to death. (101)It is important to note that punishment (i.e. justice) is not the same as revenge. Retributive justice is understood as an act of society to correct a harm done to society, in this case murder, while revenge or revenge is an individual act to correct a wrong committed by one individual against another.