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Lucas Siegel Professor Douglas English 1102 February 11, 2014 Capital Punishment in America Today Capital punishment in America is a very controversial and disputed topic to this day and has been for many years. The article "Capital Punishment in the United States", written by Beverly Ballaro (Ballaro 1), takes a unique stance on capital punishment. She states that the use of the death penalty should be abolished and the process has more cons than pros. The article "A Short History of Murder", written by Jeffery Bowman (Bowman 1), takes the complete opposite stance on the use of the death penalty in the United States. He states that views do differ for this subject, but the core ideal purpose of using capital punishment is a good thing and should continue to work in the American system. The intended audience for these articles would most likely be registered voters in the United States of America. The use of capital punishment in the United States system should be abolished says author Ballaro in her argument about the death penalty. She uses facts about previous years and how many people have been killed and just simply put on death row. One of them being that forty percent of the American population would not be allowed to serve on death penalty cases because of their moral beliefs. If forty percent of a population feels it is morally wrong then something has to be changed. She uses cases; such as, Gregg vs. Georgia and Furman v. Georgia to explain the differences in cases when it comes to using the death penalty (Ballaro 2). Rotting in prison for

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someone's entire life can be said to be a worse form of punishment than death. She goes on to state that if you kill a murderer, it doesn't make you any better. Which in some cases is a good point because once you use the death penalty; you can't go back on it. It is very interesting to realize that the price of capital punishment is much higher than people think. The article starts out by giving facts about the price and also gives her opinion on the subject (Ballaro 1). She goes on to talk politics and try and convey the point of how not beneficial the death penalty is in the United States. A statistic came out that by 2007, 201 people were exonerated by DNA testing and fifteen that were serving time on death row. She compares America to other nations with and without capital punishment and tries to prove her point. I didn't find too many weaknesses to this article but find strength in the power of her words and the reader can really see her passionate opinion on the subject matter (Ballaro 3). Jeffery Bowman goes on to state that the use of capital punishment in the United States is a good thing and should continue to be used in the system today. "In the Western legal tradition, murder is defined as the deliberate malicious killing of a person. (Bowman 1)" Is a quote used by Bowman who explains that throughout history this has been explained as one of the worst crimes ever committed. Nearly all of the 3,350 people on death row were impoverish and not helping the community in any way which is not beneficial so the death penalty is not hurting the community in any way. He explains the fairness of someone having the ability to live when they go on to kill someone else (Bowman 1). How can ones family have any closure if they know that the killer of their family member or friend is still alive and able to continue exactly what he took away for the victim. They used to execute people because of religious and political

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beliefs so why can't you execute for a much worse reason such as murder now. He starts out the article talking about history and then goes on to give his facts about his views on capital punishment. This article, in my opinion, just doesn't give enough fact and evidence to persuade me to think the death penalty is efficient in our American system (Bowman 2). The author that did the best job of fulfilling their intentions would be Beverly Ballaro because she gives out great facts and explains why she thinks the use of the death penalty should not be used in the American system today. She has the ability to use powerful words to persuade to the audience into taking her side in the argument. Ballaro also does the best job of conveying her point to her audience because this is a perfect article written for all ages above eighteen (Ballaro 1). The first article says that American culture needs to change and the fact that we are killing people is not right (Ballaro 2). The second article states that the American culture needs to stay the same and there is nothing wrong with our judicial system (Bowman 1). Both writers do a great job of proving their point but the argument of abolishing the death penalty was a little bit stronger.

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Works Cited

Ballaro, Beverly Cushman, C. Ames. "Point: Capital Punishment Should Be Abolished." Points Of View: Death Penalty (2011): 2. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

Bowman, JeffreyDiLascio, Tracey M. "Counterpoint: The Death Penalty Is Necessary." Points Of View: Death Penalty (2011): 3. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.