Analysis Of It's Time To Abolish The Death Penalty

Mr. McElwee, a policy analyst at Demos, wrote the article “It’s Time to Abolish the Death Penalty.” In writing this article, the author’s purpose is—and was—to convince readers the death penalty is costly, ineffective, and unjust; therefore, the death penalty should be abolished. Furthermore, the author believes life in prison exceeds the death penalty by deterring crime and rehabilitating convicts. Mr. McElwee is saddened by the current criminal justice system because it has been twisted to utilize the death penalty for institutionalized revenge, emotional closure, racial violence, and/or monetary costs. Finally, the death penalty poses problems in the criminal justice system due to racism, false incrimination, and revenge. In the end, the author’s main point is the death penalty undermines the foundation of the United States’ criminal justice system.

The main strength of the article is the thorough analysis of the death penalty Mr. McElwee provides. By thoroughly analyzing his ideas he leaves a path for his reader to follow which results in a logical organization of the article. Mr. McElwee began the article by stating life imprisonment serves as a better deterrent

The author can—and should—provide the reader with reasons one may support the opposing viewpoint. However, in order to correctly do this the author needs to discredit the opposing side’s claim or link the point to a reason the reader should support the author’s point of view. In the article “It’s Time to Abolish the Death Penalty,” Mr. McElwee does not provide the reader with a sufficient amount of information to make an informed decision as to whether or not he/she supports the death penalty. Therefore, Mr. McElwee has the logical fallacy card stacking in his article, so he further discredits himself because he has this logical fallacy in his