It is demonstrated that neither utilitarian nor retributive considerations require the use of the death penalty; therefore, no rational purpose is served that cannot be served by the less severe penalty of long-term imprisonment. A conceptualization of cruelty in terms of a power relationship serves to focus attention on the innate cruelty of the death penalty. It is argued that human beings are, by virtue of their essence, moral beings. Not even the most dangerous murderer is a mere object to be disposed of by the decision of others. 167 footnotes.