Act Upon Morality Not Iniquity

This clearly shows the cynicism that the death penalty consists of for by standers and victims. A well known quote “an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind” shows how bitter and cynical the death penalty really is. Violence cannot be fought with more violence. Justice is important, but so is mercy and compassion. No person should be denied forgiveness and assistance to turn from his

Capital punishment is a subject full of controversy. When it comes to the topic of the death penalty, most of us will readily agree that it’s a grim subject. Where this agreement usually ends however, is on the question of how necessary it is. Whereas some are convinced that capital punishment is not only cruel its useless as well, others maintain that it is necessary for justice to be adequately served . In the article “The Penalty of Death” by H.L. Mencken the author addresses the objections against the death penalty as well as his stand on the whole issue while using several rhetorical strategies to not only get his viewpoint across but, make the reader really think about their own stand on the death penalty. Three of the most effective

Richard Kuklinski was a convicted murderer and contract killer who was born on April 11 in 1935. Kuklinski claims to have killed over 200 people over the course of his “career” during 1949 to 1986. At first, he would simply kill people who annoyed him, got on his nerves, or who he ‘needed’ to kill. When the mob caught wind of a man who killed as frivolously as Kuklinski, they began to hire him out as a contract killer. He lived in New Jersey and New York and committed most of his crimes in that area. In 1988, he was caught and sentenced to life in prison -- he later died in prison in March of 2006

This article is a scholarly article because it cites off of the information and anyone can easily look up where the author got her information. The article is also 15 pages long and goes into depth about every topic that is covered. The final hint that shows that the writing is a scholarly article is that a professor of cultural and social geography at Queen’s University wrote it. In this article, the author talks about Troy Davis, a man who was sentenced to death after he was found guilty of murdering a police officer. However, it was revealed that much of the evidence and the witnesses were corrupted, but it was too late and Troy Davis was killed. Kobayashi talks about how the United States is one of the few countries in the world to still have the death penalty. Kobayashi then goes into detail about how a majority of the people sentenced to death by the Federal court were African American, just like Troy Davis. Kobayashi also says that there is no correlation between states with high murder rates and number of people sentenced to death. Kobayashi then talks about how public support is decreasing and how this is a good thing, especially since race plays so heavily into who is executed. Kobayashi looks deeper into the Troy Davis case and how many people were opposing his executing due to lack of

“I feel that due to the violence of the crime and the apparent utter lack of mercy shown victims, the only way the public can be absolutely protected is to have the death

Despite the level of irritation, people genuinely perceive killing another person as an evil act. According to 18 U.S. Code § 1111 - Murder, it states “Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought (a). Whoever is guilty of murder in the first degree shall be punished by death or by imprisonment for life” (b). Therefore, killing a person is not just about the illegality, but also the judicial punishments by law. There are several types of murder in the United States, such as: first degree murder, second degree murder, felony murder and aggravating circumstances. In the news article “Serial killer is denied parole again”, Hamilton introduces Juan Corona’s first degree murder case who has murdered 25 farm labors in the year 1971, and is currently he still serving a life sentence in the Corcoran State Prison, California. At the same time, the reporter highlights that The State Board of Parole has rejected Corona’s 8th parole request on November 9, 2016. In short, people should appreciate laws, understand crime, and acknowledge the importance of theories such as differential association theory because they aid the human society to solve social problems and accelerate public safety.

In April 1985, Edward I. Koch published his essay on capital punishment in the liberal magazine New Republic. Koch was a hardworking congressman who eventually became the gutsy mayor of New York between 1978 and 1989. In his essay “Death and Justice”, he addresses common arguments liberals make against the death penalty. According to Koch, “Life is indeed precious.... had the death penalty been a real possibility in the minds of these murderers, they might well have stayed their hand” (3). Koch wants to guide his readers to see that the justice system is failing innocent people whose lives are of tremendous value. He undeniably stirs things up for the strong sided liberal party readers who tend to protect murderers from being executed. However, as someone who was once a congressman, his modes of persuasion with ethos, logos, and pathos, are incredibly effective and on point.

The death penalty is a very controversial topic that has been the top of discussion for years around the world. Christopher Hitchens, a political journalist in Washington D.C., writes an essay entitled “Scenes from an Execution” in which it is clear that he is against it. To get his views across in the essay, he uses light humor rather than very serious scenarios directed toward it, although it is a very serious topic. For example, he says, “it is quite easy to book an appointment with death, and see for yourself your tax dollars at work” (Hitchens96). Christopher Hitchens uses rhetorical diction such as ethos, logos, and pathos to attack capital punishment also known as the death penalty.

In the essay, “A cruel and unusual kingdom”, by Leonard Pitts Jr. columnist for the Miami Herald, effectively argues that the use of the death penalty in the United States is inhumane, irrational and goes against American values. Though Pitts overall maintains a strong argument, writing style, and voice, he purely targets a supportive audience as he doesn’t include clear common ground nor a refutation of the other bias.

If we examine some arguments presented from both sides, opponents of the capital punishment claim that executing someone is nothing more than an immoral, state-authorized killing which undervalues the human life and destroys our respect for our government which itself says that killing is wrong. But the supporters of the death penalty think that certain murderers

A 20 year old man Delonte Thomas shot three women for refusing to sing happy birthday to his girlfriend. He left his girlfriend’s birthday party angry at the women for not singing happy birthday and returned 20 minutes later with a gun shooting the first victim nine times, the second woman he shot eight times including once in her chest, and the third woman he shot eight times in her leg; all three victims surgery for their injuries. Thomas was convicted of one count of attempted first-degree murder and three counts of attempted second-degree murder and sentenced to 27 years in prison (Moye, 2015).

CBC news (2010) reports there was never any question as to whether or not he did it, he admitted to police that he placed her into his truck cab and ran an exhaust hose into the cab, watching her die. Robert’s reason for doing so was because, “he could no longer watch her suffer” from the severe form of cerebral palsy. They discuss this case in CBC (2010) as the “ultimate response to suffering”, as experienced and interpreted by her father. The national debate on this case revealed polarizing opinions, that, on one side, sympathize with the father and the empathetic suffering he endured. On the other side, are the advocates who strongly oppose any qualification or exception to the law where the victim of murder is a disabled person. As noted in CBC the crown appointed to the Latimar’s case stated, “there is no dispute that through her life, Tracy at times suffered considerable pain. As well, the quality of her life was limited by her severe disability. But the pain she suffered was not unremitting, and her life had value and quality” (CBC,

While I have little philosophical demurral to the death a remorseless, malevolent savage who is so sociopathic that any endeavors to inspire redemption seem laughable, I object resolutely to the imposing presence of a government which would assume the power to order the death of its citizens.This signifies a disturbing totalitarian relationship between peoples and their leaders. The state’s aversion to murder is so unremitting that it is ironically willing to repeat this heinous crime remorselessly in an attempt to prevent it, but the state’s brutalization of criminals is not to be tainted by being compared to the crime itself, according to conservative ideology. We must bear in mind, however, that criminals are killed by other people, not

From an early age, children are taught that murder is morally wrong. In today’s complex society that is impeded by unsettling periods of civil unrest, it is an expectation for everyone to acknowledge and accept that murder is one of the worst crimes individuals can commit. Perhaps it can be said that the death penalty is one of our legal system’s biggest contradictions of itself, as, if someone commits murder (or another heinous crime of that caliber), such ‘murderers’ will, in states that have capital punishment laws, be sent to Death Row and ultimately murdered in order to prevent potential future crimes by such perpetrators. I believe that the death penalty is wrong not only as it is immoral to take a life, but also, such ineffective laws waste money and do not deter crime.

The opposition of capital punishment stems from several reasonable arguments concerning our rights as humans as well as our fallacies. Opponents of execution often argue that killing someone on the basis of legal justice is simply another immoral taking of a life, which in turn raises the question: how valuable is human life? This question is something that is difficult to answer, but I believe that the value of human life is inherit. I also believe that said value can decrease in accordance with one’s actions. Should the life of a child-rapist be equal to that of a community leader? Do they both deserve equally to live? If one discusses this topic, they