Pros and Cons Capital Punishment Essay Example for Free

Pros and Cons Capital Punishment Essay Capital punishment (death penalty) is the severest form of legal punishment today. There are vast differences in the way people view the death penalty. Some oppose it and some agree with it. There have been many studies trying to prove or disprove a point regarding the death penalty. Some have regarded the death penalty as a deterrent, and some have regarded it as state sanctioned murder and not civilized. The death penalty has been attributed to societies for hundreds of years. More recently, as we become more civilized, the death penalty has been questioned to be the right step towards justice. During the course of this paper I will review the pros and cons of the use of the death penalty as we, Americans, know it. The death penalty is a highly controversial subject. No one knows who’s right or whose wrong-it’s fifty percent speculation and fifty percent research. It’s just a lot of thoughts and beliefs from people who have contributed to the death penalty hype. Who’s right and who’s wrong? That is the question. Problem Statements In order to list the pros and cons of the death penalty I will discuss a bit about what exactly is capital punishment. This will help better understand why people feel the way they do about capital punishment. Like mentioned earlier, capital punishment or also known as the death penalty is the most extreme of all sentencing options (Schmalleger, 2012). Almost all nations in the world have had the death sentence and had enforced it in many ways. It has been used in most cases to punish those who broke the laws or standards that were expected of them. There are a lot of methods of execution however not all are legal in the United States. Procedures authorized in the United States now are electrocution, the gas chamber, and the lethal injection. The most common form of capital punishment is lethal injection, with electrocution to be the second most common form (Schmalleger, 2012). When it comes down to sentencing a criminal to the death penalty, many say that it has never been a fair sentencing. Those against capital punishment claim that it has been inflicted on innocent people or that it is costly to execute someone (Schmalleger, 2012). Those for the death penalty claim that the criminals who committed horrifying crimes deserve to die for their actions (Schmalleger, 2012). For the reason being, that anything else other than death does not fulfill as a sanction for the crime (Schmalleger, 2012). Literature review The people who oppose the death penalty have very different reasons than people who agree with it. Those who oppose it feel that no matter how bad of an offense that the criminal has committed, they should not be executed. Arguing against capital punishment, Amnesty International believes that The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights. It is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state in the name of justice. It violates the right to lifeIt is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. There can never be any justification for torture or for cruel treatment. It has been said that innocent people have been placed on death row for crimes they never committed and then executed. In my opinion, I find that very true and support this very strongly. From 1973 up to late 2009, over 138 people in 25 different states where freed from death row after being determined that they were innocent for the capital crime they had been convicted of (Dieter). One example of this claim is of James Bain, a Florida man, released from jail after being incarcerated for 35 years. He was formerly convicted back in 1974 for supposedly kidnapping and a 9 year-old boy and raping him in a nearby field (Schmalleger, 2012). What helped him gain his freedom in December of 2009 was the modern technology not available back then. Bain requested multiple DNA test, once approved the results came back negative for him meaning he was not the man who committed the crime. DNA test are now huge towards those placed in death row, it has helped freed many innocent citizens. When it comes down to the death penalty cases, there are many appeals that are made in court. The cost for a state for these appeals can run into millions of dollars for each individual case (Schmalleger, 2012). The death penalty is much more expensive than life without parole that is a fact. It is more expensive because it requires a long and complex judicial process for capital cases (Woodford). This is needed to ensure that innocent men and women are not executed for crimes they did not commit (Woodford). Sometime with this careful long process the risk of executing an innocent person cannot be completely eliminated (Woodford). Those for capital punishment may state that although the official cost dealing with capital punishment is high, no cost is too high to bring justice to the world (Schmalleger, 2012). Some say that capital punishment deters crime from occurring. However, there is no credible evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than long terms of imprisonment. States that have death penalty laws do not have lower crime rates or murder rates than states without such laws. States that have abolished capital punishment show no significant changes in either crime or murder rates. In my opinion and from what I have read it seems to be that the death penalty has no deterrent effect. I say this because people commit murders in the heat of passion, under the influence or because they are mentally ill, giving little or no thought to the consequences of their actions. Death penalty laws falsely convince the public that government has taken effective measures to combat crime and homicide. In reality, such laws do nothing to protect us or our communities from the acts of dangerous criminals Arguing for capital punishment, the Clark County, Indiana Prosecuting Attorney writes that There are some defendants who have earned the ultimate punishment our society has to offer by committing murder with aggravating circumstances present. I believe life is sacred. It cheapens the life of an innocent murder victim to say that society has no right to keep the murderer from ever killing again. In my view, society has not only the right, but the duty to act in self-defense to protect the innocent. There are still some who states that the death penalty is favorable in the United States. The proponents state that executing criminals will directly help stop the criminal rate in America; also, they declare that when the criminals that are sentenced are killed, the world is one less a murderer than before. Adding on, the argument that the wrong person would be killed is very slim; as a matter of fact, with the development of technology constantly evolving, the chances of the wrong citizen being executed are also constantly decreasing. Although many opponents state that the capital punishment is racist, there are statistics that more African-Americans do crimes than Caucasians. Research Methods After analyzing all the information towards capital punishment I became interested in doing some research about capital punishment statistics about the process of decision making when sentencing a criminal. If I were to conduct a case study about discrimination in death penalty sentencing, I would create surveys and interviews with inmates on death row and certain cases that appeared to been sentenced by discrimination. This type of study is hard to investigate for the reason that if the judge or jury based their answer off of the gender or race of the person it would be less likely that they would reveal the truth. My research study would be quantitative because I will be recording data about the rates on death penalty discrimination. It will also be a qualitative study because, a part from the data I will be recording I would conduct interviews with former judges and attorneys that have dealt with death penalty cases and what was the process of deciding the sentence like. Conclusion In today’s generation people have very different views on the death penalty. There are many who completely agree with it, and the concept behind it, and there are some who feel it is nothing but a cruel punishment. All in all, the capital punishment is a charge that will always be debated in America. However, the execution is a faster death for the criminal a much easier statement someone can receive. Half of the American population is against capital punishment for the execution of innocent people, discrimination, deterrence of crime and high cost leading to debt for the society. Those for capital punishment agree that this kind of action is what is needed to put a stop to brutal crimes. The criminal deserves to die for their actions and it is the only option to bring justice. The death penalty is and always will be a problem that is arguable from both sides, but, if someone tries to ultimately stop it, it is and always will be impossible. Reference ACLU. (2007, April 09). The death penalty: Questions and answers. Retrieved from http://www.aclu.org/capital-punishment/death-penalty-questions-and-answers Baik, E. (2012). Gender, Religion and National Origin: Latinos Attitude toward Capital Punishment. Journal of Social Sciences (15493652), 8(1), 79-84. Hashemi, S. (n.d.). Abolish the death penalty. Retrieved from http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/campaigns/abolish-the-death-penalty?id=1011005 Methods of execution. (2010, April). Retrieved from http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/methods.htm Dieter, R. (n.d.). Death penalty information. Retrieved from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/home Schmalleger, F. (2012). Criminal justice: A brief introduction. (9 ed., pp. 272-286). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Woodford, J. (n.d.). The high cost of the death penalty. Retrieved from http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=42

Graduation Speech: Footsteps on a Beach :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever. Like footsteps on a beach. People come in and out of our lives, leaving us changed in some shape or form. Like footsteps along our trail of destiny. Love: the people who care about us, the people we care about in our lives. Our family, friends and loved ones have all contributed to who we are as graduates, today. Our parents have raised us to believe in ourselves. To make the best of who we are. Our parents were raised by our grandparents with similar beliefs and expectations, as were we. My grandfather has influenced my life in numerous ways. I have many memories of him, he has made me laugh through all the fun times that we had together, but he also made me cry. When I was a freshman my grandfather became deathly sick. As the months flew by and I stood by his side, he became increasingly ill. In the early spring of that year my grandfather passed away right before my eyes. That was an unforgettable moment in my life. My grandfather taught me to accept, to accept both life and death. He showed me that life moves on, people you love will leave you and that through it all it only makes us stronger in the end. It's loved ones in our lives, like my grandfather, who are the breath within us that give us courage to follow our hearts. Friendship: the most important part of our high school years that we cherish the most. Every good friend that has come into our lives, like footsteps that we encounter along a walk on a beach, leaves us with a different perspective of who we really are. The activities that we are involved in throughout high school introduce us to life changing friends. My freshman year, during track, I met one of those special friends. We ran the same distance races; together we shared that special bond as teammates. She's always been an extraordinary athlete, who runs with her heart, who I have always looked up to. At the district championships we were warming down together. I told her how she inspired me and that I felt that she was my hero. The next thing I knew I found myself singing. She made me stop before I could finish, otherwise she would have started to cry.

Language & Literacy for Young Children Essay

This paper will discuss developmentally appropriate methodologies in teaching language and literacy to young children across a developmental curriculum. Also to be discussed will be the aspects/knowledge’s of language, language diversity and Theoretical Perspectives. In the Beginning There is now evidence that it is never too early to teach a child. Through research it has been discovered that the infant even before he/she is born can hear sound and as we know that is how we acquire language, by hearing spoken words. According to Otto (2010), language development begins when language speakers assume that an infant is a participating partner in conversational settings, even though it is months before the child is able to begin using conventional words. In an article written by Dr. Carmelita Lomeo-Smrtic,Ph. D, she wrote that â€Å"Teaching children to become literate members of society is a daunting task, often relegated to the elementary teacher. However, research on teaching children to become literate suggests that this process must begin well before kindergarten. Research suggests that children are primed for learning language in utero. Also from the Otto text, â€Å"research on children’s perception of speech and the development of the auditory system in utero has determined that the fetus can perceive sounds beginning with the 25th week of gestation and at the 35th week a fetus’s hearing acuity is at a level similar to an adult’s(2010). Knowing all of this has prompted mother’s and some father’s to read to their unborn infant and even â€Å"talk† to him/her. Documented research suggests that infants can distinguish their mother’s voice from the voice of others-including other female voices a first few days after birth (Otto,2010). Aspects of Language It has been established that children begin learning at a very early age, even though they do not begin speaking words for many months. Now we will move on to speak about howthey learn. There are five aspects or knowledge’s of language. -Phonetic, Semantic, Syntactic, Morphemic, and Pragmatic.

The Importance of Improving Public Education Essay examples

Compromises are what this country, the United States of America, was founded upon. Every decision made is done by compromise. This includes all the laws that are passed, and more specifically the â€Å"No Child Left Behind Act.† The No Child Left Behind Act was not the first law passed to affect the nation’s educational systems, nor will it be the last. There have been several problems laid out with the various educational systems put into place, and there are many things we could do today to better our educational systems in the future. Before President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act went into place there was the â€Å"Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.† However, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act did not just appear.†¦show more content†¦The law became a great importance to President Johnson’s time as president, and played a powerful role in the Civil Rights Movement. The law was what the federal governmentâ₠¬â„¢s new role in education became. Before the Elementary and Secondary Education Act this role had been left primarily to the governments on the state and local level. There have been several provisions to the law, but none have been as major or as controversial as President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act. On January 8th, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the â€Å"No Child Left Behind Act† and put it into action. The law wanted every student in every state to be considered â€Å"proficient† in reading and math by the years 2013/2014. There was funding from the federal government for any educational institution which was showing improvement in the scores of their students. This law is current in the United States’ educational systems, and has been tweaked and changed a little to better suit the needs of the recent times. Even with the attempts at keeping the program afloat, it still had numerous problems. One of the problems with the No Child Left Behind Act was that it let the states set the bar for proficiency. 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