Death Penalty Synthesis Essay with Documents
Directions: The following prompt is based on the accompanying ten sources.
This question requires you to integrate a variety of sources into a coherent, well-written essay. Refer to the sources to support your position; avoid mere paraphrase or summary. Your argument should be central; the sources should support this argument.
Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations.
Introduction: The death penalty has been implemented since ancient times and punishes criminals. Some people wonder if it deters violent crime in the states it is legal, but does it have a noticeable effect on violent crimes in these places? Is it even moral, and should it be abolished altogether?
Assignment: Read the following sources (including any introductory information) carefully. Then, in an essay that synthesizes at least five of the sources for support, take a position that defends, challenges, or qualifies the claim that the death penalty is immoral and should be abolished.
Refer to the sources by their titles (Source A, Source B, etc.) or by the descriptions in parentheses.
Source A ("Reasons to be Against Death Penalty")
Source B (Bedeau)
Source C (Dieter)
Source D ("A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death")
Source E ("How Executions Take Place")
Source F ("The Death Penalty in the U.S.")
Source G ("Methods of Execution ")
Source H ("Public Opinion Polls ")
Source I (“Murder Rates”)
Source J (Everett)
Source A
"Reasons to be Against Death Penalty." antideathpenalty.org. N.p.. Web. 9 Mar 2013. <http://www.antideathpenalty.org/reasons.html>.
1. Executions cost more than life in prison.
$2 million per person vs. $500,000 (4x as much!). Free counsel for defense, for appeals, maximum security on a separate death row wing.
2. The innocent may be wrongly executed.
Since the DP was reinstated in 1976, 82 inmates have been freed from Death Row. That's 1 Death Row inmate found to be wrongfully convicted for every 7 executed.
3. Is not a
This question requires you to integrate a variety of sources into a coherent, well-written essay. Refer to the sources to support your position; avoid mere paraphrase or summary. Your argument should be central; the sources should support this argument.
Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations.
Introduction: The death penalty has been implemented since ancient times and punishes criminals. Some people wonder if it deters violent crime in the states it is legal, but does it have a noticeable effect on violent crimes in these places? Is it even moral, and should it be abolished altogether?
Assignment: Read the following sources (including any introductory information) carefully. Then, in an essay that synthesizes at least five of the sources for support, take a position that defends, challenges, or qualifies the claim that the death penalty is immoral and should be abolished.
Refer to the sources by their titles (Source A, Source B, etc.) or by the descriptions in parentheses.
Source A ("Reasons to be Against Death Penalty")
Source B (Bedeau)
Source C (Dieter)
Source D ("A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death")
Source E ("How Executions Take Place")
Source F ("The Death Penalty in the U.S.")
Source G ("Methods of Execution ")
Source H ("Public Opinion Polls ")
Source I (“Murder Rates”)
Source J (Everett)
Source A
"Reasons to be Against Death Penalty." antideathpenalty.org. N.p.. Web. 9 Mar 2013. <http://www.antideathpenalty.org/reasons.html>.
1. Executions cost more than life in prison.
$2 million per person vs. $500,000 (4x as much!). Free counsel for defense, for appeals, maximum security on a separate death row wing.
2. The innocent may be wrongly executed.
Since the DP was reinstated in 1976, 82 inmates have been freed from Death Row. That's 1 Death Row inmate found to be wrongfully convicted for every 7 executed.
3. Is not a