Right About Wrongs? A Review of Fried & Fried\u27s Because It Is Wrong and the Implications of Their Arguments on the Use of Capital Punishment Book Review

In their recent book, Because It Is Wrong former solicitor general and Harvard Law professor Charles Fried and his son, Suffolk University philosophy professor Gregory Fried, begin with the principle that morality is essential to the proper understanding of how to assess the exercise of power by the President of the United States. In particular, the Frieds are interested in the use of presidential power in an extralegal manner. Considering the actions of the administration of George W Bush, they focus on two specific areas: the use of torture and the use of surveillance during the War on Terror. This Book Review asserts that, for the most part, Fried and Fried are right about wrongs -that is, their arguments concerning torture and surveillance generally are persuasive. Further, this Review explores the consequences of the Frieds\u27 conceptualization of torture on the use of capital punishment in the United States. Specifically, it argues that the moral underpinnings of torture as wrong in all circumstances, to the degree that one adopts their normative framework, offer a compelling basis for the abolition of the death penalty. In Part , the Review evaluates Fried and Fried\u27s claim that torture is wrong under all circumstances. Part III considers the Frieds\u27 claim that surveillance is not always wrong --even when its practice is against the law. Finally, Part IV argues that if the Frieds are right about these wrongs, then their reasoning leads to the fundamental conclusion that the death penalty is its own wrong