The Death Penalty - Essay Example

Death Penalty Questions • Which of Koch’s reasons for the death penalties are the strongest and why? Which are the weakestand why? The strongest part of Koch’s essay has to do with his emotional writing and his focus on the victims. First, he discusses the fact that opponents of capital punishment often argue that capital punishment cheapens the value of human life. Koch refutes this concept by stating that if a woman was raped, and the criminal justice system decided to lower the penalties for rape, the government is telling the victims that their horrible experience and suffering is meaningless. By appealing to the victim, Koch is able to create the feelings of empathy and sympathy in the reader. Everybody understands that rape is a pure violation of one’s body and a horrible crime, and therefore nobody would want to see a rapist get off easy. Some women that have to recover from this situation have psychological scars for years. Koch also points out that if punishments are lowered, we are not teaching the criminals the lesson they need to learn. Furthermore, by not applying the death penalty, the criminal justice system would basically be stating that the murderer’s life is more important than the victim’s. The weakest part of Koch’s essay occurs when he discusses his first point about the death penalty. The reason why Koch’s argument is weak here is because he is presenting a fallacious argument. He compares the treatment of cancer to the death penalty, and states that just because chemotherapy is considered radical, and it may be seen to be a horrible concept in the future. Capital punishment falls under this veil, according to Koch, because it may be seen as the treatment to prevent murder. This unfortunately is a false analogy. There is no proof, for instance that capital punishment prevents murder. Countless studies have shown that it does not, so we cannot rely on that as a main point in this type of argument. • Bruck says that in Florida as executions rose, the murder rate also rose. How do you explain this connection or lack of connection? I think that murder rates can rise and that the death penalty may not act as a deterrent to criminals because most criminals do not assume that they will get caught. Most of them, in fact, believe that they will beat the system. Individuals with a criminal mind have been shown by psychologists to have very different thought processes, especially those criminals that are considered psychopathic. However, it is difficult for research to attain (because it has never tried to attain) whether or not capital punishment deters regular people from killing others. Regular, everyday individuals do not often think of killing another person, but if questioned honestly, they may, in fact, say that the death penalty is a deterrent to them. However, none of this research has been done and this kind of concept would be difficult to prove because not all individuals might admit to this, therefore we do not know what the thoughts and feelings are of others. Thus, the connection in Bruck’s essay could be clearly affected by this concept, and we may never know how many people the death penalty does actually deter. • Why do people gather in Huntsville to cheer when someone is executed? People gather in Huntsville to cheer when someone is executed because Huntsville was the area that held death row prisoners from 1928 to 1952 (Death Row Facts.). Therefore, this area has acted as a symbol to those who wish to support the death penalty because of its history. Historical symbols can often work to stir up people’s emotions and work to make them feel that there is meaning in their protests. Thus, a tradition developed out of this area’s history. Those that appear there clearly wish to rally and show their support for the death penalty. These supporters are doing what they think is right, and arguing for their cause. This is the perfect example of American free speech at work, because the right to express opinions is a right that everyone has in this country. Huntsville evokes this feeling in individuals and serves to back up their individual feelings. • Koch says that the few innocent people executed are simply a cost of justice for the may. How would someone opposing the death penalty respond to this statement? Someone opposing the death penalty would clearly be against the statement that a few innocent people executed is the cost of justice. Those against the death penalty would state that this is atrocious—what if the person who was innocent, for example, was Koch himself? The death penalty opposers would try to put Koch in the empathetic place of the innocent person on death row. Not only will that person lose his or her life, that person will also lose reputation, and this would cause misery to countless other people. What about that individual’s family? Children? Friends? Since people have relationships that make up their lives, the execution of one innocent person is bound to affect far more than just that person, and this fact has to be considered. • More Latinos and African-Americans are executed than Anglo-Americans, both authors say. How do you explain this? Studies have shown that there is a trend toward minorities and crime. This has to do with the fact that minorities often experience a lower socio-economic status than whites, and they also often do not achieve a college education because of a lack of money (Mosher 28). These factors contribute to their criminal activities. Furthermore, others have argued that minorities are clearly focused on more often when it comes to crime (Master and Greenberg 84). There is a sort of minority injustice as far as this is concerned. One argument that proves this point is the use of profiling. Profiling almost always starts when an individual is a minority, not when an individual is white. Therefore, if an individual who is white and is actually a criminal appears before a police officer, he or she may be ignored. However, if a Latino does the same and looks suspicious, profiling may come into play. This clearly shows that there is a generalized opinion toward minorities and crime, and many innocent individuals are therefore unfairly profiled. • Karla Faye Tucker, a student at St. Thomas University in Houston, killed her boyfriend with a pickax when she found him in bed with another woman. She was sentenced to death in Huntsville, but after many delays and appeals, had become a model prisoner and a deeply religious person. Was her execution (approved by President-to-be Bush) necessary? Why or why not? Karla Faye Tucker’s execution, in my opinion, was necessary. She did take a life, and even if this happened several years ago, she did have the opportunity to get appeals and use the justice system. However, people in the government and in the criminal justice system obviously judged that she still deserved to pay for her crime as well. While an individual can work on their own personality and become a better person, it does not change the past action of killing. Tucker had been sentenced to death many years ago, and one needs to pay the penalty that is the consequence to one’s actions. For instance, if a person spends too much money on credit and cannot pay bills, he or she has the consequence of bad credit and terrible debt. If a person kills another person, he or she will either get the death penalty or spend life in prison without parole. The punishment was known to her when she committed the act, and it was also reiterated to her during her court case. Therefore, because she was aware of the punishment all along and was rejected by the justice system ultimately, she did deserve the death penalty. Works Cited “Death Row Facts.” Texas Department of Criminal justice. 20 March 2007. 23 June 2009. http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/drowfacts.htm Mastro, Dana. “The Portrayal of Racial Minorities on Prime Time Television.” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media. Vol. 44, 2000. Mosher, Clayton. “Minorities and Misdemeanours: The Treatment of Black Public Offenders.” Canadian Journal of Criminology, Vol 38, 2996. Read More