1) In the letter that the Associate Editor of The Police Times wrote to the Editor of the New York Times, he makes several claims about the death penalty. First, he claims that the justification of the use of death penalty in the current societal context is without dispute. Secondly, the Associate Editor asserts that convicts many times do not carry weapons during time of criminal activity for fear of the death penalty. Thirdly, he bring out the moral aspect of the death penalty, saying that when one rapes or murders a child, that person deserves death penalty as retribution. Lastly, the author claims that when we are threatened, like in war, we have the right to kill.
2) In the letter, the Associate Editor provides some evidences in support of the second claim that he makes about the effect of death penalty in deterring hoodlums. He emphasizes his own experience as a police officer for thirty years, having seen numerous cases of crimes in which convicts do not carry a gun, to point to the fact that death penalty prevents serious crime that involve guns. The author then go on to make reference to the quote of J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, to further validate his argument of the effects of death penalty on crime rate. Lastly, the author bring out the L.A.P.D study on 95 subjects, conducted in 1975, to further enhance his claims. For the rest of his claims, the author simply states his opinions without providing solid evidences in supporting them.
3) I think the author’s use of his own experience may seem convincing at first. Yet one thing we do have to bear in mind is that his case is not representative of the whole police force’s stand on the issue on a statistical level. In fact, in his book Deterrence and the Death ...
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McLaughlin, Michael. "Carlos DeLuna Execution: Texas Put To Death An Innocent Man, Columbia University Team Says." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 15 May 2012. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. .
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"Joe Ball | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers." Joe Ball | Murderpedia, the Encyclopedia of Murderers. Juan Ignacio Blanco, n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
Levine, Susan. “Ex-Death Row Inmate Hears Hoped-for Words: We found Killer”. The Washington Post. 6 Sept 2003. Web
The usual justification for capital punsihment is that it deters crime. It is by no means obvious whether capital punishment deters crime more than life imprisonment. However, a legend says that in Victorian, England, at the site of public hangin gs of pickpocketers, other pickpocketers frequently practiced their trade among the crowd. Although the threat of execution was taking place right in front of their eyes, the deterrence in its strongest form was ineffective (Streib 3). On the other hand , in 1970 and 1971 the Los Angeles Police Department surveyed persons whom they arrested for a violent crime, but did not use their weapon, did not carry a weapon, or carried an inoperative weapon. Of the ninety-nine criminals who responded to the questi on about why they had not killed or put themselv...
Radelet, Michael L., and Ronald L. Akers. "Deterrence And The Death Penalty: the Views Of The Experts[*]." Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 87.1 (1996): 1. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 28 Feb. 2011.
Is the death penalty fair? Is it humane? Does it deter crime? The answers to these questions vary depending on who answers them. The issue of capital punishment raises many debates. These same questions troubled Americans just as much in the day of the Salem witch trials as now in the say of Timothy McVeigh. During the time of the Salem witchcraft trials they had the same problem as present society faces. Twenty innocent people had been sentenced to death. It was too late to reverse the decision and the jurors admitted to their mistake. The execution of innocent people is still a major concern for American citizens today.
It's dark and cold, the fortress-like building has cinderblock walls, and death lurks around the perimeter. A man will die tonight. Under the blue sky, small black birds gather outside the fence that surrounds the building to flaunt their freedom. There is a gothic feel to the scene, as though you have stepped into a horror movie.
...ed United States. U.S. Government Accounting Office. Capital Punishment. Washington: GPO, 1994 Cheatwood, Derral and Keith Harries. The Geography of Execution: The Capital Punishment Quagmire in America. Rowman, 1996 NAACP Legal Defense Fund . Death Row. New York: Hein, 1996 "Ex-Death Row Inmate Cleared of Charges." USA Today 11 Mar. 1999: 2A "Fatal Flaws: Innocence and the Death Penalty." Amnesty International. 10 Oct. 1999 23 Oct. 1999 Gest, Ted. "House Without a Blue Print." US News and World Report 8 Jul. 1996: 41 Stevens, Michelle. "Unfairness in Life and Death." Chicago Sun-Times 7 Feb. 1999: 23A American Bar Association. The Task Ahead: Reconciling Justice with Politics. 1997 United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform Crime Report. Washington: GPO, 1994 Wickham, DeWayne. "Call for a Death Penalty Moratorium." USA Today 8 Feb. 1999: 17A ILKMURPHY
3) Though the claim that death penalty serves as a deterrent is valid, it is controversial in its soundness. It is sound that criminals fear the death penalty. Indeed, death penalty is fearful, as it is irrevocable and takes away the life and future of the criminal sentenced to it. However, the evidences supporting the second premise that is the core function of the claim for the deterrence argument is too excessive. In the letter, the author first presents his own experience to prove that the fear of death penalty deters offenders from carrying a gun. However, using an experience as a proof for deterrence for such a complex and serious punishment as the death penalty is extreme. While supporters of the author may respond with the author’s credibility as a police officer for thirty years, personal experience and insight can’t be extrapolated with possibilities of bias...
"The Case Against the Death Penalty." American Civil Liberties Union. The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU Foundation., 2011. Web. 01 Nov. 2014.
Capital punishment is a topic constantly debated because of moral principles and effects on society. Many would argue that the possibility of death prevents crime. Others would argue that execution is unjust. Flamehorse’s article, "5 Arguments For and Against the Death Penalty,” provides common reasons held by society with a short analysis. Other articles such as“4 Out Of 5 Texas Dentists Advocate The Death Penalty,” produced by TheOnion, promotes capital punishment through a satirical metaphor. The reasons may be factual or morally based because society operates on these principles. Once the reasons are evaluated, it may be possible to develop a stance throughout the paper. This will contribute to various hypothetical examples and the course of action to handle said example. However, individual interpretation is subjective meaning that everyone has a different idea in mind.
Lisa Cupido, Fogarty. “A timeline of the Ramsey case.” USA Today n.d.: MAS Ultra- School Edition. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.
Eaton, Judy, Tony Christensen. “Closure and its myths: Victims’ families, the death penalty, and the closure argument.” International Review of Victimology, Vol 20(3).Sep, 2014. : pp. 327-343.
The death penalty has been an ongoing debate for many years. Each side of the issue presents valid arguments to explain why someone should be either for or against the subject. One side of the argument says deterrence, the other side says there’s a likelihood of putting to death an innocent man; one says justice, retribution, and punishment; the other side says execution is murder itself. Crime is an unmistakable part of our society, and it is safe to say that everyone would concur that something must be done about it. The majority of people know the risk of crime to their lives, but the subject lies in the techniques and actions in which it should be dealt with. As the past tells us, capital punishment, whose meaning is “the use of death as a legally sanctioned punishment,” is a suitable and proficient means of deterring crime. Today, the death penalty resides as an effective method of punishment for murder and other atrocious crimes.
Hickey, T. J. (2010). Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Crime and Criminology, 9th Edition. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.