Running head: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 1

The Effect of Rhetorical Analysis on a Book about Criminal Justice

Andrea Lucero

RWS 1301 TR 9 am UTEP

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Abstract

This paper will be about how genre affects an argument. In this paper, I will discuss what type of

audience this paper is for, how ethos, pathos, and logos is incorporated and also conclude on

specifically how genre affects an argument. This paper is main focused on the topic of criminal

justice and how money, politics, and criminal justice policy all tie together. You will see specific

examples from the book The Money and Politics of Criminal Justice Policy. It will introduce the

authors and their credibility.

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The Effect of Rhetorical Analysis on a Book about Criminal Justice

In several cases, people write papers to prove a point or inform others on a certain topic.

When this happens, the author creates an argument or something they are going to defend. When

the author uses more facts and valid sources this supports their argument to a high level. The

book this paper will focus on is Hayden Griffin III, Vanessa Woodward, and John Sloan’s The

Money and Politics of Criminal Justice Policy. This book was written in 2016 and published by

Carolina Academic Press. The authors’ argument is “Money and politics are the driving force

behind criminal justice policy.” Based on the genre the argument can become very strong. Genre

is a category of artistic composition. Genre holds a very important factor when it comes to an

argument or even literature in general. Therefore, rhetorical elements do affect an argument

whether it is positive or negative.

Audience

The intended audience for this book leans towards criminal justice majors, politicians,

government and even scholars researching in the criminal justice field. This can be assumed

because this book has specialized vocabulary, language and context. Since this book is based on

money, politics and criminal justice policy no ordinary person would read this book for fun.

Anyone wanting to read this book most likely wants to find out information about money,

politics, and criminal justice policy. In this begin of this book there is a dedication “To anyone

who has questioned the process.” For people who may be wondering how the process of these

three topics relate, this book would be a great source. Obviously, these topics are very hard to

understand but with the help of the authors they explain well enough for the audience to

understand. Genre helps the audience get a better understanding of what is going on throughout

the paper. It stands as a guidance to a well composed essay.

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Ethos

In this book there are several authors who all come from highly creditable backgrounds.

Each of the authors are professors at a university, in which their topics is mainly criminal justice.

Ethos comes into play when the authors start talking about the ethics of money, politics and

criminal justice policy. The text includes chapters that emphasis on monetary concepts such as:

“The Political Economy of Crime” (pg. 33), “The Cost of Crime” (pg. 101), “The Politicization

of Crime and Justice in the United States” (pg. 145). Hayden Griffin III is an assistant professor

in the Department of Justice Sciences at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Vanessa

Woodward is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of West

Georgia. John Sloan III is a professor in the Department of Justice Sciences at the University of

Alabama in Birmingham. As you can see all these authors are very creditable and have plenty of

knowledge based on these topics of money, politics and criminal justice policy. This book was

published by Carolina Academic Press, which is located in Durham, North Carolina. Carolina

Academic Press is major publisher of multiple academic books and many law textbooks. This

publisher is very well known and held to high standards. This publisher is very creditable due to

the fact that it has published other text books and has even been in other high scholarly

universities like law schools.

Pathos

According to Swales, pathos is when the authors use appeal to emotion to support their

argument. After reading through this book there was not much appeal to emotion so this book

leads more towards a clinical approach. Based on the subtitles you can tell that the authors are

not trying to persuade us but more trying to inform the audience on how each process of the law

works and how it is used towards the topics they are writing about. They give plenty of
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background knowledge and foundational material so the audience can have a better

understanding of each topic. They give real life example for people to create a more realistic look

into how law actually works and travels through a process. They go into depth about politics and

what is inside politics, also the process of money in politics. As you can see this book is clearly

based on clinical approach due to the amount of research that went into this book.

Logos

Logos helps support the authors’ argument by using pure knowledge of topic. Throughout

this book, logos is the most rhetorical method used. However, it also is the most valid according

to this topic. The authors’ claim is that money and politics are the driving forces behind criminal

justice policy. They strongly believe that money and politics is a huge factor towards regulations

and laws of criminal justice. They support their claim by providing definitions of each topic,

using actual laws and mythology, describing how the process of law works, talking about

federalism, etc. They discuss, not only these topics, but they use real life scenarios and theories

to help support their claim. Throughout this book multiple characteristics are being used.

Specialized vocabulary is one, in criminal justice there is specific terms used and even with

politics and money. Luckily the authors do not just throw terms out. To help the audience

understand better they give definitions of each criminology term they use. Another characteristic

they use is looped intercommunication, in a court process in order to create laws it has to go

through a process, which they explain in the book. This process is an example of looped

intercommunication because the cycle requires a message, channel and feedback. Looped

intercommunication was also used with the authors in writing this book. They had to work

together and compromise in order to write a successful book. This process of discourse
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community was a huge factor. There are plenty more examples that proves this book is involved

with discourse communities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, genre does in fact affect an argument. Whether it is positive or negative

genre can make a huge impact towards an argument. What I mean by positive or negative is that

a specific topic can either strengthen your argument or weaken your argument. Either way genre

is taking an affect towards an argument. Even when the author is not specifically arguing

something, more as defending their point of view they still have a specific genre which helps to

support their ideas. Every author uses genre in whatever they are writing and this could take a

positive or negative affect. Of course, every author is always looking for a positive outcome.
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References

Griffin, Hayden. Sloan, John. Woodward, Vanessa. 2016. The Money and Politics of Criminal

Justice Policy. Durham, North Carolina. Carolina Academic Press