...Vagueness, Ambiguity, and Clarity in Writing CRT/205: Critical Thinking December 7, 2012 Gecobie Davis When I looked further into Capital punishment laws I found a very interested story about when it first started. The first established death penalty laws date as far back as the Eighteenth Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon, which codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes. The death penalty was also part of the Fourteenth Century B.C.'s Hittite Code; in the Seventh Century B.C.'s Draconian Code of Athens, which made death the only punishment for all crimes, and in the Fifth Century B.C.'s Roman Law of the Twelve Tablets. Death sentences were carried out by such means as crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement. I think the United States should ban using capital punishment because many of them don’t do serious crimes then others. Look at the case of Brian Dugan is one of the people that the United States reconsider to use the capital punishment. I think if a person breaks the law any type of form of fashion they are responsible for their own actions. Brain Dugan execution took more than twice as normal time to do and appeared to some families member that was in a suffering process at the time of crime happen(Chicago tribune, 2011). I feel like the government is doing what they can to put these criminals in jail for killing, murdering, raping, and kidnapping another human being. I think by giving them life in...
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...few key words: fairness, equality, common good, merit and morals (What Is Justice?). These words form a foundation to allow society to function properly with free will and choice without totally controlling the people. As stated before, every person may have a different meaning to what social justice is and who deserves social justice, which presents issues around the world. The death penalty is a major issue that is problematic to the question of “what is social justice?” Society looks at criminals as outsiders, uncivilized and dangerous. So society decided to form the procedure of the death penalty, which sentences a person to death who has committed a capital crime. Some people find the death penalty just while others do not. Some individuals feel that the death penalty helps society. By killing the criminal you eliminate any further opportunity to commit any more crimes and keep safe the greater good. Also individuals support the idea of merit or “an eye for an eye”, that if a person kills somebody then they also should be killed. On the other hand, people who do not believe in the death penalty use morals to define their social justice. They believe that no person deserves to die by the hand of no man other than God, no...
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...There has been a lot of controversy over the past several years about the death penalty and whether it was “constitutional” or “unconstitutional.” There is in deed many reasons that the death penalty is bad, but never the less I think that the people that commit these horrendous crimes do not deserve to breath one more breath. This is my stand on the issue of the death penalty. I may be for the people being executed, but I am definitely not oblivious to the rest of the peoples opposing views on this topic and I will take them in consideration in my arguments. Many citizens of the United States say that killing a prisoner who committed the violent crimes is getting cruel and unusual punishment, but they had to commit a heinous crime to be...
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...exactly is this teaching me though? When I was younger, my grandmother taught me not to let anyone push me around. She said if someone punched me, I should punch them back twice as hard. But then I got to thinking; if someone punches me and I punch them back, does that not make me just as bad, or even worse, than them? And if the person that punches me was taught the same thing I was, would the cycle ever end or would we just go on punching each other forever? Everyone knows that it is immoral and against the law to kill. But that does not always prevent people from doing it. Our government tells us not to kill, but what is the consequence if we do commit homicide? The death penalty. State sponsored execution is hypocritical. As a result of killing, murders and other criminals are sentenced to death. How is a person going to learn anything from this hypocritical decision? How can this be justifiable? “What goes around comes around” many people would say. But those who fight fire with fire end up with ashes. I believe an eye for an eye will make the whole world...
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...concern. Adults still discuss the Rosenbergs around the dinner table while Jim’s children learn about how easily they’ll survive nuclear fallout if they just duck and cover or fill their bathtubs with drinking water. Donovan is asked to serve as Abel’s defense attorney by his boss (Alan Alda), who just wants Donovan to be a warm body—someone to sit next to the traitor to make sure the judicial process runs appropriately. One gets the impression—ably assisted by Hanks’ steely-eyed determination, which recalls the movie icons of cinema's golden age—that Donovan has never just been a cog in a machine. And so he actually tries to mount a defense for Abel, arguing that the seizure of evidence was unconstitutional and making the case that the death penalty would...
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...Should the death penalty be illegal? This is a question America has struggled with for hundreds of years, the answer to this question varies by person. Hammurabi's code very much valued the “eye for an eye” policy but we are long past the days where the American public is judge, jury, and executioner. The justice system has a come a long way from when it first began. Does giving someone a lethal injection or strapping them to an electric chair make you any less of a murderer? A life is still a life, no matter what way you choose to look at it. The way I see it, the idea of carrying out a life sentence and having to rot in a jail cell is enough of a deterrent. The 8th Amendment of the constitution forbids against “cruel and unusual punishment”...
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...of the death penalty is an issue that is passionately debated in the United States. Opponents of capital punishment often view the sentence to be cruel because it is ethically unjust. For example, ethical problems involve the moral issues in addition to whether it is ever right to execute another human. On the other hand, pro death penalty supporters regularly claim that the punishment is just because it may provide closure to the victims loved ones and it is the direct answer to a murder. Additionally, it is argued that as a result of the injection the supposed criminal may never commit further crimes. Both sides of the issue have strong claims to support...
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...The rights of death penalty is a major problem in the world. Many people have very different views on death penalty. This even includes Judicial, Executive and Legislative branch. Death penalty still appears to be a common punishment for years to come, but will it last? This here are opinions and certain rules that have been established on thoughts of death penalty by the three branches. The U.S Supreme court has issued many changes of rulings when related to the death penalty. One rule that has been established by Supreme Court in Texas was stopping the act of evaluating intellectual disability in death penalty cases. In Texas, Supreme Court in the Miller-EL v. Dretke case has also shown the Supreme Court to be racially fair when it comes to death penalty cases. They have redone trials before based off their thoughts of racial bias being used in trial. This is one reason why Judicial Branch gets a lot of respect among people. President Obama is a man of the executive branch. His opinion on death penalty by his own words, is a “very difficult and troublesome” matter. Barack Obama does not see death penalty being...
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...capital sanctions are imposed on the state level for murder. Currently, thirty-two states have death penalty statutes. Of those thirty-two, only seven states carried out executions in 2014 (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2015). Those executions total 35 (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2015). As a result of the low number of executions carried out, experts in the United States have examined the efficiency of the death penalty. To accurately assess the economic costs of the death penalty, the difference between the costs...
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...competency tests for death row inmates have low standards and are in dying need for improvement. While John H. Blume and C. Lee Harrington’s arguments about the tests arrive at the same end, Harrington’s rhetorical techniques were dead wrong. Considering Harrington interviewed 20 high profile defense lawyers for data to support her claim that the Supreme Court needs to heighten the standard of competency for death row inmates wishing to waive their appeals, it may seem that Harrington’s rhetorical approach is more effective than John H. Blume’s. However, if we take note of the informal formatting of the quotes in Harrington’s scientific formatted article and her rhetorical strategy to only have text, it is evident that Harrington’s argument may not be as persuasive as a first glance may suggest. In comparison, John H. Blume’s argument: the Supreme Court ‘s competency test required for death row inmates to waive their appeals fails to directly assess if they are motivated by getting help in their suicide, is more effective than C. Lee Harrington’s argument....
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...Historically in Canada, the death penalty existed as the maximum punishment for criminals convicted of committing capital offences before it was abolished from Canada’s Criminal Code in 1976 (Thompson, Andrew.S. 2008, p. 172). Presently the highest form of punishment is as a maximum of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years (Roberts and Stalans, 1997, as cited in Lambert, E., Baker, D., & Tucker, K. 2006, p.3). Many Canadians support the return of the death penalty, an illustration of this would be when the House of Commons held a free vote“…in 1987 …regarding the reinstatement of the death penalty”, although the free vote was defeated “46% of the votes cast were for reinstatement”. (Lambert, E., Baker, D., & Tucker,...
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...prisoners for heinous crimes through state-regulated execution often cite the term “an eye for an eye.” Their argument also naturally gravitates towards saving money, as cost of housing prisoners is a burden of taxpayers. Denouncers of capital punishment generally refer to the legality of the statute through the Eighth Amendment, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment. The main points of the speech were not meant to sway the audience one way or the other, but to give informative, unbiased facts about the death penalty through the speaker’s firsthand...
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...Although the death penalty has many problems including its expense and cruelty to inmates, it is imperative that we utilize this punishment due to the horrendous crimes people. Many people believe that we should get rid of death penalty, but really people need it for all the outrageous things people have done. There are so many pros and cons debating whether the death penalty is good or bad. Many believe that its way too expensive taking care of the inmates such as electricity, water, food, and clothing. The government approximately spends about $1 million on each inmate sentenced to life in prison. There is around 2,000 inmates that are in prison for death row a year, that is a lot of money spent on just bills and food, also that's not even...
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...state fond of the death penalty ever since the establishment of capital punishment. The circumstances in which a person can be subject to capital punishment are clearly defined in section 19.03 of the Texas Penal Code. (5, Metze.) Most of the reasons for executing an inmate pertain to the act of intentional/premeditated murder. Despite the fact that Texas legislature strongly supports capital punishment and the idea of retribution, the issue is growing to be quite controversial to the general public. The Texas legislature largely supports the death penalty and their voting tends to indicate this as fact. A spring 1985 poll conducted in Texas reported that 74% of the Texas electorate support and favor the...
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...Controversy regarding the death penalty has been prevalent in the United States for centuries. Those in favor of capital punishment, a term synonymous with the death penalty, argue that its practice provides a “fair” punishment for certain crimes and serves as a deterrent for heinous acts. However, there has been growing opposition in America. The death penalty, implemented in thirty-two states, should be prohibited in the United States due to the financial cost of death penalty trials and executions, the possibility that those sentenced are innocent, and the inhumanity of failed executions. The implementation of the death penalty in America dates back to the colonial era and is largely attributed to British influences. The first recorded...
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