3.3 Pollution Verses The Environment

5 years ago, I remember going to Redondo Beach in California where I was able to swim and wade through the waves as they would go through me on a typical sunny California day. I remember my feet sinking into the warm sand as I walked for miles along the clean beaches. This is one of the golden memories of my childhood. This past summer, my mother, sister and I decided to visit our family over in California. In the process, most of us wanted to go to the Redondo Beach. To my shock and disappointment, the first thing I saw while walking to the water was the sign “Swim at your own Risk”.

My first thought was “Oh, no lifeguards. This will be okay because I don’t plan to swim; I just plan to walk in the water.” As I stood there for around 5 minutes, I took in the scenery of the beach. I saw around 25 people, mostly kids, in the water in a half of a mile stretch of beach, which wasn’t a lot. I also saw there were a low number of umbrellas on the beach. My first thought was that it was a busy day and many people were just not going to the beach, but I would find out later that I was very wrong. I decided to the pier with my family and the first thought that crossed my mind was sand being stuck to the bottom of my foot. I thought it was normal, but after I put my sandal on, it stuck to my foot. After I took off my sandal and looked at the bottom of my foot, I found out that I had oil that covered half of the bottom of my foot. I was really confused to why there was oil on the bottom of my foot until my aunt connected the dots for me. That “Swim at your own Risk” sign was telling us that this beach was no longer safe to swim in.

This incident reminded me of the Exxon Valdez Disaster and the most recent incident of the oil spill floating towards the Gulf of Mexico. There have been many environmental derogation incidents involving our pollution, such as these oil spills, caused by people that are slowly destroying the environment. For example in academic journal “Oil, Money, and the Environment: Punitive Damages Under due Process, Preemption, and Maritime Law in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez”, Brandon Morris explains the causes and the after effects of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Morris explains the oil spill was caused when the oil tanker went over the “Blight Reef” and as a result oil spilled into “one of the richest marine environments in North America” (Morris, 168). The results of oil spills, such as the Exxon Valdez incident, can result in harm to the environmental areas near the shores and also harm the organisms that use/enter these shores. An oil spill is only one version of an environmental derogation act that people cause; but every act has major consequences on the environment and on us.

I knew there were many place all of the world that were being environmentally destroyed such as the coral reefs and wetlands because of pollution and irresponsibleness of major companies and human beings. But I wouldn’t have expected Redondo Beach to have the status of “Swim at your own Risk” because of pollution. This situation really opened my eyes to the problems we as humans are causing to our environment worldwide. I feel people don’t realize the harm they can do to the environment by being irresponsible with their waste. For example using oil spills, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority states a long list of negative effects that an oil spill can have on our population and other organism. These effects include the following: poisoning the fish we eat from the oil spill, hindering the organisms’ ability to survive after the oil spill, and causing many organisms to die(“The Effects of Oil on Wildlife”). I personally feel there are a lot of people that do care for the death and destruction of these organisms and feel something should be done; but I feel there are only a small handful of people who try to actually fix the problem.

I feel we need to find a way to protect our environment from our pollution because if we keep on this current track of how we dispose of our pollution, there will be no safe environment left for our future generations to live in.

I remember last year I had a field trip with my biology class to the Potomac River, just outside Washington D.C. The purpose of this field trip was to learn about the environment and also to get a hand on experience with working with different types of equipments and tests. When I got to the river and stepped on the boat that would be taking us, the first thing I noticed was the color of the water. The water had the color of a mud pit you would see outside your house after a big rain storm. When I looked closer, I could see some areas of the river that were completely black. The boat captain said the color of the river was caused by two reasons. The first reason he gave me was since there was a lot of construction all around the river, the dirt and soil around the river would be transferred into the river, causing the color of the river to shift to a darker brown color. The second reason he gave me was because of the trash and pollution from factories and from the sewage systems coming out of D.C.

After going through 2 hours of test that provided disturbing results that said the river was basically uninhabitable to most organisms, we called it a day. When sailing back to the dock to park the boat, I got a first hand view of the causes that were harming the river. Along the sides of the river were big semi circles made out of metal that blended with the bank of the river. The captain said those big semi circles were the old drainage system for the city. He said “When the city has rain storms and the new drainage systems are just not enough to handle the amount of rain, the rain goes to the old drainage system and dumps into the river.” This didn’t seem like a big problem until he mentioned that all the trash in the city that would wash up into the drains would be dumped into the river. This could be seemed a little further down the river where we could see islands of trash just sitting in the shallow areas of the river. I could see McDonald wrappers, cigarette buds, soda cans, and other things that belonged in the landfills. There are many harmful and negative effects when trash is illegally dumped/misplaced into waterways like the ones in the Potomac River. The City of Daton, Ohio states that the negative effects of illegal dumping can include: a location where disease can be created, a location where criminals tend to use, a location where housing properties will decrease in value, etc (“Facts about illegal Dumping”). This just explains that illegal dumping of trash not only has harmful effects on the environment, but also can have negative effects in other areas of society. Also, when sailing back to the dock, I could see pipes that would go along the riverside and would open into the river. Even though there was nothing coming out of the pipes, I knew what was coming out of those pipes was not good for the river and the ecosystem.

It seems ironic that in the backyard of the capital is a river that is disgusting to look at and can be dangerous to swim in, but the Potomac River is just one example where pollution has destroyed the environment and ecosystem.

What can we do to prevent these problems that plague our environment? Most of the things that are advertised to help the environment do help the environment. The common saying of “Reuse, Reduce and Recycle” is an excellent way to help out with this pollution problem. People need to stop purchasing so many things because the more humans purchase, the more trash it creates and that creates more pollution further down the road. Reusing and recycling are good ways to make the full usage of items that would normally be used once. Also, another way to help out with the problem of environmental degradation caused by pollution is being responsible for your own trash. Ensuring that trash goes to landfills and that illegal dumping doesn’t occur are two possible solutions in being responsible for your trash. All of these changes are pointless if only one or two families make these changes. It takes a universal effort and belief in these changes to produce a major success against the pollution that is causing the destruction of our environment.

The harm to the environment and humans are caused by the pollution that humans are producing. In order to protect our environment, we as human beings must ensure that our future generations will be able to live without any concerns about the environment having negative affects on us or our own future off springs. The only way to protect the environment from pollution problems is to make a drastic change in our lifestyle. Hopefully in the future, I could return to Redondo Beach and swim without the chance of stepping in oil.


Citation List

1) “Facts about Illegal Dumping”. City of Dayton Serving the Community. 2008. April 15, 2010 Web

2) Morris, Brandon. “Oil, Money, and the Environment: Punitive Damage under Due Process, Preemption, and Maritime Law in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Ligation”. Tulane Maritime Law Journal. Issue 1(2008): 165-202. Print


3) “The Effects of Oil on Wildlife”. Australian Government. April 15, 2010 Web

Class Reflection

Thinking back from the first day of class, I was not excited to go to this class. Over the classes, I began to enjoy this class more and more because of the freedom we. There was a reading here and there, but I felt the class was very free flowing from my other classes. I found a new respect for writing in this class this semester. I was always a person who would just jump in and start typing until the paper was completed. For this class, I couldn’t do that and come out with a good draft. I felt all my papers were less structured to fit the cookie cutter style, but more organized. I felt my writing has improved and the way I use logic in my papers has improved also. Sadly, that doesn’t mean my grammar or spelling has improved. I still find writing papers semi difficult, but after this class I have the potential to write better papers if I put effort into them. I felt the rebuttal argument was always something I learned in middle and high school. To disprove someone and win. This was my least favorite type of argument, but I have a feeling this is the most effective type of argument. The rogerian was my favorite. I felt it had a non threatening style, where finding compromises was the key to success. I have to admit I had the most fun with the rogerian argument paper. Finally, the narrative argument was my 2nd favorite. I felt the usage of stories was always something we incorporated into our papers, but using it as primary evidence made me a little hesitant. But in anyway, I still had a good time writing it so far.

Overall, I felt this class was one of my more productive classes where I can take what I learn and use it n the future. I rarely regret not going to this class in the morning; even if this class is so early. I learned

Response to "Take a Hard Look"

To say that JMU has a drinking problem seems to only apply to maybe around half of the kids here (maybe a little more). But the reason why springfest has caught so much negative publicity is because the negatives stand out. For example, when most people revise papers, they are searching for mistakes and errors, and not looking at how well your paper was written. That is my view on what happened at springfest. To address the issue about JMU having a drinking problem, I feel our school is like any other school. I can’t say I haven’t drank here at JMU, or that I didn’t drink on the day of Springfest, but I can say for sure that I was not at the riot or any near the Forest Hill Manor housing complex. I can even say I didn’t even consume alcohol at that time of the riot, but the fact that I did consume alcohol that night makes me apart of the problem of JMU having a drinking problem. If we are to address the drinking problems at JMU, we first have to step back and observe all other colleges.

Reflection 3.2

For my second draft, I felt I answered a couple of questions that I had when writing the first draft. Like the rogerian paper, I felt I needed to do some major organizing to get some facts across that were not getting across clearly. I know on this draft there are some areas when I read through the paper where I thought this was the ending of the paper when it wasn’t. It is just hard when you add an argument into your stories. Also, another thing that is hard to do is adding my information from my outside sources in. I have 3 sources, one scholarly, that I can add in. But the hardest thing I feel is to not distrust the flow of the paper. For example, I start off by semi mentioning the Exxon Valdez incident, and I was planning to show this incident as a destruction of the environment real world example. But now, I cannot find a good chuck of area I can put this part of the information. The same is for the other two

3.2 Awareness to Help the Enviroment

Just a Note, I have my sources from my last paper and I am just wondering where to put these sources that doesn’t disrupt the flow of the paper. So, there are no sources that are added in this paper, but I have done research on this topic.




5 years ago, I remember going to Redondo Beach in California where I was able to swim and wade through the waves as they would go through me on a typical sunny California day. I can remember the warm sand through my toes and the miles of clean sand. This is one of the golden memories of my childhood. This past summer, my mother, sister and I decided to visit our family over at California. In the process, most of us wanted to go to the Redondo Beach. To my shock and disappointment, the first thing I saw when walking to the water was the sign “Swim at your own Risk”.

The first thing I thought was “Oh, no lifeguards. This will be okay because I don’t plan to swim; I just plan to walk in the water and stay there for a little.” As I stood there for around 5 minutes, I took in the scenery of the beach. I saw around 25 people, mostly kids, in the water in a half of mile stretch of beach. I also saw that there were a low number of umbrellas on the beach. My first thought was that it was a busy day and many people were just not going to the beach, but I would find out that I was very wrong. I decided to come up to go to the pier and the first thought that cross my mind was sand was sticking to the bottom of my foot. I thought it was normal, but after I put my sandal on, it stuck to my foot. After I took off my sandal and looked at the bottom of my foot, I found out that I had oil that basically covered half of the bottom of my foot. I was really confused to why there was oil on the bottom of my foot until my aunt connected the dots for me. That “Swim at your own Risk” sign was telling us that this beach was no longer safe to swim at.

I knew there were many places all of the world that were being environmentally destroyed such as the coral reefs and the wetlands because of pollution and irresponsibleness of major companies and human beings, but I wouldn’t have expected this big beach to have the status of “Swim at your own Risk” because of pollution. This situation really opened my eyes to the problems we as human beings are causing to our environment. The more I look around through the internet and through my own eyes from my daily routine, the more I see our environment is being mistreated and destroyed because of the pollution we are producing and the mistreatment we are doing to our environment. I feel we need to find a solution to protect our environment because if we keep on this tract of harming the environment through our pollution, there will be no safe environment left for our future generations to live in.

I watch the news everyday and read news from the internet about the conversation of the environment. Most issues today all have something to do with global warming. This is the biggest environmental issue that plagues our generations and I feel all the political efforts to save the environment are based towards prevent global warming. But I feel the approach of saving the environment by fixing global warming will act as a quick fix for our environmental problems. My critical thinking professor, who is a big advocate on protecting and conserving the environment, taught me that people will solve problems when they see that problem must be fixed and has priority over all over problems,. From the news of today, today’s problems are all around tax rates, war, oil, and the economy. These are the main issues that the government feels they need to fix first in order to keep the society of the United States happy. But lingering in the shadow is a problem that has been put in the back seat for many years because new problems keep occurring.

This problem is the destruction of the environment. Since the environment has very little direct connections to the typical human, most people feel the destruction of the environment is not an issue with top priority. Recently, issue has been brought to global warming and as a result has shined a light on other areas of the destruction of the environment. But shining a light on the problem does little to help fix it. I feel the government needs to take steps in protecting the government by reducing pollution caused by humans and by companies. Also, I feel we as the society need to take steps in developing habits that are beneficial to the environment. These habits can range from trying to save electricity and not buying everything you want to recycle. All of these changes will result in a healthier environment for future generations.

I remember last year I had a field trip with my biology class to the Potomac River, just outside Washington D.C. The purpose of this field trip was to learn about the environment and also to get a hand on experience with working with different equipments and tests. When I got to the river and stepped on the boat that would be taking us, the first thing I noticed was the color of the water. The water had the color of a big mud pit you would see outside your house after a big rain storm. When I looked closer, I could see some areas of the river that was completely black. The boat captain said this was because of two reasons. The first reason he gave me was since there was a lot of construction all around the river, the dirt and soil around the river would be transferred into the river, causing the color of the river to shift to a darker brown color. The second reason he gave me was the trash and pollutions from factories and from the sewage systems coming from D.C.

After traveling a little further down the river, we decided to perform some test on the river. We did a pH test and a turbidity test. The pH test would determine if the water was acidic or basic; and that would determine how much oxygen was in the river. The turbidity test would basically test of the clarity and the cleanliness of the river. After going through 30 minutes of picking up test tubes and dropping white disk into the river, we finished both test and found disturbing results. The pH test told us that the water had a pH of around 4. The pH scales from 1 to 14, where the lower the number is the more acidic the water is and the higher the number being the more basic the number is. For most organisms, such as human and fish, the recommended pH is 7. This meant that there was a low level of oxygen in the river for the fish and other organisms to breathe. When looking at the results of the turbidity test, we found out that we could look more than 2 feet down into the water and see mud. This told me that there was no chance I could see the bottom of the river and that the water was really cloudy and disgusting. These results pointed to the fact that this ecosystem for fish and underwater organisms was terrible. When I asked what the cause of these disturbing results was, the answer was the same as before; pollution and construction of new buildings around the river.

When driving back to the dock to park the boat, I got a first hand view of the causes that were harming the river. Along the sides of the river were big semi circles made out of metal that blended with the bank of the river. The captain said those big semi circles were the old drainage system for the city. He said “When the city has rain storms and the new drainage systems are just not enough to handle the amount of rain, the rain goes to the old drainage system and dumps into the river.” This didn’t seem like a big problem until me mentioned that all the trash in the city that would wash up into the drains would basically be dumped into the river. This could be seemed a little further down the river were we could see islands of trash just sitting in the shallow areas of the river. I could see McDonald wrappers, cigarette buds, soda cans, and other things that belonged in the landfills. Also, when sailing back to the dock, I could see pipes that would go along the river and would dump into the river. Even though there were was nothing coming out of the pipes, I knew what was coming out of those pipes was not good for the river and the ecosystem.

It seems ironic that in the backyard of the capital is a river that is totally disgusting to look at and can be dangerous to swim in. But the Potomac River is just one example where pollution has basically destroyed the environment and ecosystem.

Overall, harm to the environment can be caused by the pollution that humans and companies produce and when people are mistreating the environment. To be able to protect the environment is to ensure that our future generations are able to live a life where they do not need to worry about the environment having negative affects on them or their own children. And the only way to produce prevention on negative effects to the environment is to make changes on how we do things now. Maybe in the future, I could return to Redondo Beach and swim in it without the chance of stepping in oil.


Citation List


1) “Facts about Illegal Dumping”. City of Dayton Serving the Community. 2008. April 15, 2010 Web
2) “The Effects of Oil on Wildlife”. Australian Government. April 15, 2010 Web
3) Morris, Brandon. “Oil, Money, and the Environment: Punitive Damage under Due Process, Preemption, and Maritime Law in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Ligation”. Tulane Maritime Law Journal. Issue 1(2008): 165-202. Print

Reflection 3.1

For my first draft, I felt a little unsure at times while writing my paper. The hardest thing I felt was creating an argument. It just felt unnatural to me to use a story to create an argument and it shows in my first draft because I really felt there was no main argument. I just choose a very broad topic to use and put stories in my life as evidence. Secondly, I found it hard to add any information that pertains to sources. It just seemed unnatural again to add these facts into my story telling.

Sentence Variety Exercise

Sentence Variety Exercise
Last year, I went on a field trip to my Advance Placement Biology class to the Potomac River. (Medium) Simple

The plan was we were going to get a boat and a tour guide that would lead us down the river and we would test the water to see if it was a good ecosystem and also we would just observe the creatures that lived in the river. (Long) Compound

My impression of the river was the color the river. (Short) Simple

It was dark brown in most of the river and in some spots black. (Medium) Simple

I really thought this wasn’t right, but my guide said this was because of all the runoff being produced from the neighboring construction of new buildings. (Long) Compound

3.1 Help the Environment

All of this arguing about global warming and the cost of fixing the global warming problem I feel is pointless. This is because I feel the majority of the people who are attempting to solve this issue of global warming are trying to do a quick fix. Yes, it might delay the effects of global warming, but I feel the majority of the efforts to fix global warming should be redirected towards saving the environment and reducing the amount of pollution we are producing that will effect our environment.

Last year, I went on a field trip to my Advance Placement Biology class to the Potomac River. The plan was we were going to get a boat and a tour guide that would lead us down the river and we would test the water to see if it was a good ecosystem and also we would just observe the creatures that lived in the river. My impression of the river was the color the river. It was dark brown in most of the river and in some spots black. I really thought this wasn’t right, but my guide said this was because of all the runoff being produced from the neighboring construction of new buildings.

When we started to test the water for PH test and also a turbidity test, I found out that the river was not healthy. The PH test told me that there was very little oxygen in the river, which resulted in a low population of fish and other creatures that lived the river. Also, the turbidity test was to test the clearness of the water. It was just so surprising how unclear the water was and it made me wonder how did this all happen? Our guide told us that the drainage water from the city, runoff produced from the construction, and some illegal dumping of trash produced this almost toxic river. When we went further down the river, I saw huge semi circle gates that were all lining the side river. My guide told me this is were the trash and also the drainage water from city flows into the river. Right at that point, I saw an island of trash just sitting in the river. The after affects of illegal dumping could be increased “crime activities” in places that allow illegal dumping, contaminates in the drinking water, increase tax payer dollars to fix the river and many other side affects of dumping(Facts about Illegal Dumping). With this being some of the serious side affects of illegal dumping, I wondered who would take the serious end of all the problems that were caused by the illegal dumping. There was Mcdondaldes wrappers, soda cans, and many more items of trash.

After this sight, we decided to go fishing to observe how all of these problems to the river affected the life of the creatues living in the river. After attaching a net to the end of the boat and sailing around for a couple of minutes, we had pulled the net up and we saw some fish. I was surprised we even caught a fish. The guide said told us “Don’t be surpised if you see some deformed fish”. I thought he was kidding because he seemd like a funny man, but whne I picked up some of the fish, I saw random bumps on the sides of the fish. Also, there were some fish that had closed eyes and missing fins. The guide went on and told us that the river we were sailing on was very toxic and these deformations were a result of thes fish get cancer. The one thing I took from this field trip was that this river was toxic and basically a place where you wouldn’t want to go skinny dipping.

But when looking back on the field trip, I found it ironic that the river so close to the Capital was in this type condition. The place were laws are being passed to protect the environment is right next to a river that is uninhabitable and basically toxic to any creatues living in it. I feel that more legalization and more attention needs to be shined on the environment because soon enough, our backyards are going to be toxic to a point where we can not even go near them. Since the environment isn’t an issue that is clearly in trouble to most people, people always put “saving” or “helping” the environment in the back seat to other issues such as unemployment rates and tax issues. But people don’t realize what the environment produces for us. Without the environment, there would be no human race.

The environment and human beings live coincide with each other. If we had no rain forest, we would have terrible air qualities that would force us to take extreme measures to produce a solution. Also, with no rain forest, we would have no materials to create buildings, houses, and shelters; which we need to survive. Another aspect that humans need from the environment is organism. To protect animals that humans consume would be helping the environment because if we were to allow animals that we eat to toxic food that we produced, we would be eating toxic because these animals are toxic. There are so many situations that clearly explain our need for the environment, but the main problem is that we are not protecting the environment essentially need everyday.

A couple of days ago, I was sitting in my critical thinking class and this class is all about sustainability. The professor always talks about how sustainability shouldn’t just be about the environment, but rather sustainability plays into almost every aspect of life. It is a system where one issue will affect all of the other issues as well. For instances, I went to California 5 years ago to a city called Torrance. It is right outside Los Angeles, but it is a more neighborhood style city verse the city feeling Los Angeles. A couple minutes away from the city is Redondo Beach. I remember I always swam at the beach and would always just stand and let the small waves hit me. Also, to my right was a huge pier that usually had a lot of people fishing the top as well as a couple of restaurants serving fresh sea food. Finally, I remember that beach always having a good majority of the people swimming in water and a lot of umbrellas set up with families sitting underneath them. I went back just last year and I found a totally different beach. It was empty. There were zero umbrellas set up, barely any kids swimming in the water and the pier was a lot less crowded from what I remember. Finally, I saw a sign near the water that read “Swim at your Own Risk”. I thought it meant there were no lifeguards on duty, so I stepped into the water. After coming out, I felt my foot was sticky. I found out there was oil on my foot.

I found out that this beach was toxic now because there was oil found in the water at this beach. There could be many reasons for the oil at the beach, but it just surpised me how the oil just floated to the beach. This situation reminded me of the Exxon Valdez incident in Alaska. I remember the scenes of the after affect of the oil spill where people would be cleaning off the seals and rocks with tooth brushes. The affects of an oil spill an the wild life surrounding the land are: dieses to many of the animals and their young, making animals more vulnerable to predators, killing many of the animals, and many more serious problems (The Effects of Oil on Wildlife). If I actually wanted to swim, I could have been harmed from the oil in water. This story just plays into sustainability I learned in my critical thinking class. If we don’t keep the environment healthy, it can bite us in back end and harm humans. We can be harmed from our solutions of removing trash or toxic waste from dumping in the oceans.

To have a successful life, every aspect of any life must be sustainable and balanced. Humans discarding trash and dumping waste into the oceans keeps landfills sustainable and available. But when the oceans are all dirty and toxic, the environmental aspect is not sustainable because after years of depending on the oceans as landfill, the oceans will be so toxic and so dirty that we can not even use the oceans to fish for food, swim for fun, or other activates. To keep and create ways to keep the environment sustainable for many other generations will provide a world where humans will be safe and world where the benefit of the environment will not harm humans in the process.

To protect the environment and create legislation to ensure that harm to the environment does not occur is necessary for this planet and our human race to survive. There are many issues that today’s world deals with and I feel the issue of the destruction of the environment always takes a backseat to these issues. But at the time, I feel the protection of the environment could be the most important issue of all because it has a long lasting affect on the future generations of this world. If we are solving all problems that plague this life time and in the process don’t protect the environment, it is for sure to spell out trouble for future generations. By creating legislation and ways to protect the environment efficiently, we are guaranteeing a place for our kids and their kids to live in.


CITATION LIST

1) “Facts about Illegal Dumping”. City of Dayton Serving the Community. 2008. April 15, 2010 Web
2) “The Effects of Oil on Wildlife”. Australian Government. April 15, 2010 Web

Rogerian Reflection 2.3

Thinking back on my times with the rogerian style of writing, I wondered why this method of arguing was rarely used. I felt this type of argument would appeal to the more educated and caring type of person who is willing to make a compromise in order to establish what is best for both sides. I felt this idea of arguing writing style fit me the best as well as my subject because I was really never on a side when it came to the death penalty. So, I wanted to write about both sides in order to understand each view point and to be able to choose a side. I felt the rogerian style allowed me to explain both sides in my own way so I could understand the whole issue. After writing two whole essays on the death penalty, I still feel I am not on a side nor can I choose a single side

2.3 Rogerian Against the Death Penalty, but Compromise is still an Option

I was raised to cherish all life, but at the same time I was taught at a young age that bad behavior will result in negative consequences from my parents and teachers. My childhood reflects these beliefs. I was always a good boy who mostly did what was right and after realizing some actions were wrong, did not do them again. My childhood learning of good and bad differs much from the real world. This can be seen within the death penalty. The death penalty takes what I have learned to the next level. The issue that covers the death penalty is what should a criminal receive for a serious case of murder? Do we as a state cherish life over justice? Or do we take a page out of the rules of Hammurabi and use the old saying “An eye for an eye”? I am a person who believes that the death penalty should not be used in the United States.

Since 1973, when the death penalty was reinstated in a majority of the states, a total of 135 inmates have been released from the death row and are now considered innocence (“Death Penalty 101”). All of these verdicts were overturned due to new DNA evidence that revealed the criminal was innocence to begin with. It is easy to feel remorse for the criminals that spent a good portion of their life in jail, but no one realizes the problem of these people wasting their life in the correctional system. This is due to the people who made the mistakes of conviction not admitting to their flawed decisions. As a result, no one will ever be blamed when a situation like this occurs. This brings up new ideas about how inaccurate the death penalty process can be.

The supporters of the death penalty will state that my views of the death penalty are inaccurate or highlighting the wrong parts, but the supporters themselves have a wide range of credible reasons for supporting the death penalty. First of all, supporters will believe that the use of the death penalty will produce lower crime rates and in result produce a safer society for families to live in. The Death Penalty Information Center has collected data since 1990 that the murder rate has been higher in states with the death penalty verses states without the death penalty (“Murder rates nationally and by state”). This shows that supporters of the death penalty will urge the need for the death penalty to fight back on the high murder rates by letting criminals know that a crime could lead to their death. Hopefully, this knowledge will make some criminals think twice about their actions. Secondly, supporters of the death penalty will make the claim that DNA evidence will prove whether someone is guilty or innocence. From the academic journal “Science and the Death Penalty: DNA, Innocence, and the Debate over the Capital Punishment”, Jay Aronson, author of many books relating to the use and discovery of DNA, states that DNA evidence is “more accurate and reliable than other forensic sciences” (Aronson, 1). With the use of DNA evidence as a conclusive way to prove if someone is guilty or not, supporters of the death penalty will not have to fear an accidently execution of someone that is innocence. Finally, the people who support the death penalty will believe that justice must be served. To honor the victim’s families and to protect the reputation of the United States of America, many supporters of the death penalty will be in favor of providing justice to the victims’ families by taking the life of the criminal that harmed their own. Even though there are many more credible reasons why people support the death penalty, I feel the removal of the death penalty will result in fewer problems and less controversies.

My view of the death penalty is that it is not needed in the United States. The death penalty in my opinion does not cherish the life of criminals and does not make fair and equal judgments on all criminals that go through the judicial process. Also, I feel there could be bias within the people who run the process, which creates an unfair trial and could result in a wrongful verdict. The main reason why I don’t agree with the death penalty is because the people placed in prisons have a chance to change their views and ways of life. To give someone another chance to change their way of life seems like a better option than taking their life away.

First of all, I feel there is inconsistency with the consequences assigned for similar actions. For example, a person who commits murder can get 10 years in jail and another person who commits murder can receive the death penalty. Could that be due to the way the murderer killed their victim? Or could it have been the type of person the criminal killed? In the end, the result is exactly the same, a person was murdered. From the Charlotte Observer(A North Carolina Mainstream News paper) article “Death Penalty System irretrievably broken”, the authors stated “there was no way to ensure essential fairness and consistency of the system because it produces such widely varying results” (“Death Penalty system irretrievably broken, 2). It doesn’t seem fair that one murderer could receive the death penalty for killing a person and another murderer could receive 10 years in prison. This just frames some of the inconsistencies with the death penalty system.

Secondly, a person can only receive the death penalty by a jury of people making a unanimous decision in the United States. I feel people could possibility receive the death penalty through unfair trials because jury members could be bias or could have racial stereotypes in their mind before the court hearing. Jury members are screened and asked questions in order to prevent any them from having any bias towards a person or race, but in reality bias can never be prevented or eliminated. It is not that every human being is racists, but all people have some idea of a certain type of person or race. These ideas could be positive or negative ideas, but it is nearly impossible to find a jury full of people who are not biased. An example of bias towards African Americans from the Death Penalty Information Center states that the “odds of receiving a death sentence are nearly four times (3.9) higher if the defendant is black” (Dieter 3). Dieter, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center and attorney, explains that an existing bias towards African Americans in some regions in the United States does exist and could produce an unfair trial. In 2006, a total of 649 African Americans were executed in all the states that allow the death penalty (“Capital Punishment, 2006- Statistical Tables”). It is unknown if those African Americans received a fair trial with an unbiased jury. The idea that people can be bias towards other people and can result to a decision that produces a wrongful death sentence makes the idea of using the death penalty less appealing to me.

The death penalty has left this country divided. While researching this topic, I realized that a compromise can never be made with the idea of taking the life of a criminal away for their crime. However, things can be changed about how the criminal is executed and different sentencing for crimes. Rather than being executed, more people can be placed into jail with a life sentence. This is the only compromise that can ever be made with the issue of executing someone or not executing someone. Even though it will cost more tax payer dollars to keep these criminals in jail, it is the only way to satisfy both sides. Another compromise could be to eliminate some of the methods of execution. The current methods of execution are electric chair, lethal injection, hanging, firing squad and lethal gas (“Methods of Execution” 1). The best thing to do is to eliminate the inhumane methods of execution and to only use lethal injection. The lethal injection process was created with the intent to provide the criminal a painless death. The most moral thing to give to a criminal should be a humane and painless death. This also ties into the issue of public executions. The idea that the criminals know that many people are watching them die can make them suffer mentally before they die. From the academic journal “Neither Justice nor Mercy: Public and Private Executions in Rhode Island,” the idea of public executions and its history through the state of Rhode Island is explained. It explains that originally people were supporting the idea of public executions through “hangings” so they can see criminals suffer. But in the end, the novel explains how people decided to step in to abolish these “unruly behaviors” (Chambers 1). To eliminate situations where criminals are executed without suffering seems to be the most humane situation possible. By taking out cruel methods of execution and removing situations that will produce suffering to criminals during the execution will result in fewer arguments and more agreement about the death penalty from both sides.

When looking at the death penalty, we can realize that the issue of the death penalty will never be completely solved in the United States. This is because the extremes of both sides can never be combined into one solution which will fully satisfy both sides. In my opinion, I feel that the death penalty should not be used because of its unfairness towards minorities and other situations. But with some compromise between both sides of the issue, I feel the arguing between both sides can be lessened. Maybe in the long run after all extreme issues are settled; the United States can cherish the life of criminals and use the methodology of Hammurabi simultaneously.



CITATION LIST

1) Aronson, Jay. “Science and the Death Penalty: DNA, Innocence, and the Debate over Capital Punishment in the Untied States”. Law and Social Inquiry. Vol. 34. Issue 3(2009): p 603-633. Print

2) “Capital Punishment, 2006- Statistical Tables”. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2006. Office of Justice Programs. Web March 10, 2010

3) Chambers, Stephen. “Neither Justice nor Mercy: Public and Private Executions in Rhode Island” New England Quarterly. Vol 82. Issue 3(2009): p 430-451. Print

4) “Death Penalty 101”. American Civil Liberties Union. April 7, 2007. American Civil Liberties Union. Web March 10, 2010

5) “Death Penalty system ‘irretrievably broken’”. Charlotte Observer. March 21, 2010. Charlotte Observer. Web March 10, 2010

6) Dieter, Richard. “The Death Penalty in Black and White; who lives, Who Dies, Who Decides” The Death Penalty Information Center. The Death Penalty Information Center. Web March 10, 2010

7) “Methods of Execution”. Prosecuting Attorney. The Clark County. Web March 10, 2010

8) “Murder rates nationally and by state”. Death Penalty Information Center. September, 2009. FBI Uniform Crime Report. Web. April 9, 2010.

Remember Room Exercise

A room I can remember is my living room in my old house. It was fairly big, or it could be because I was so small. It had white good feeling carpet on the bottom, and over the carpet has the mats of carpet, which in some places felt like dried glue. There was this one very big non flat television that took up the right corner of the room. Looking behind you while watching the television, you had a clear path to the kitchen. The kitchen always smelled like something was burnt, or someone had just cooked something good. Looking to the left side of the room, you had 3 windows and a door that exposed you to the back ground. It always looked like a jungle with all of the trees. But at the same time, it looked like a scene out of a horror film due to the spots that never got sunlight through the forest, the brown porch, and the rusty almost broken down jungle gym with the blue slide and pink swing.

New Narrative

Is it ethical for the government to “target” someone. In the New York Times article U.S approves targeted killing of American Cleric. It goes in to talk about how this person is not just being involved in terrorist attacks against the United States now, but rather is gathering support from these plan attacks as well. It also provides feedback on knowledge, quotes, and statistics about how previous presidents thought. The problem that is linked to this essay is that since this person is an American, he shouldn’t be allowed to be targeted by the United States, but he is.

Need to establish representiveness

Corrections that need to be addressed for final 2.3 Death Penalty Paper

Things to change with 2.3 Death penalty
-Must create a stand for opposite side (Give it like 2-3 sources)
-Make your idea in opening paragraph that you are against the death penalty
-Take out any idea about correctional faculties
-Maybe remove academic source on hangings in public
-Must work on improving incorporation and ending of sources (especially the first academic source)
-Look to recite the academic source
- Paragraph 10 is the other side. Maybe you should bring it forward
-Paragraph 5 is the transition from real life examples to reasoning
-Make ending longer. Make it play with the intro.

Narrative Pre writing

Narrative Pre Writing

When I was listening in class about this idea of a narrative argument, the first idea that came into my head was about the environment. I was thinking that I could start off and just say I am a traveler and have been many places. Then I could talk about how the destruction of the environment would relate to what I’ve seen on my travels and how they might not exist on a decade from now. From there, I could talk about personal stories that relate to the poor treatment of the environment and how the animals on this planet have received terrible extinction from movies I have watched (Example can be the cove). The only thing I feel might be hard about this paper at first is just gathering all the thoughts and ideas I have about my topic and then trying to organize them so it makes it a narrative argument.

Emotional and Non Emotional Responses

Emotional Response
Dear Professor,

I really feel I have been an excellent student on your class during this semester. I always try my hardest on all the test and quizzes and do all the homework to my fullest. Sometimes, these assignments and study sessions pushed me to the brink of my energy and force me to stay up all night, but I ensure you that they are done with the fullest of my capabilities. But I feel my performance in your class has disappointed me and especially you. There have just been times during this semester that has forced my attention else where other than your class. I guess the main reason why I am sending you this email is to plead you to give me a better grade than what I have. I feel the issues and problems that have plagued me throughout this semester have greatly hindered me of my capabilities of succeeding in your very informative class. I hope you consider giving me a better grade than what I have earned in your class to salvage this terrible semester of college. Thank you.

Sincerely


No Emotion Response
Dear Professor,

As you can see with my grade for your class this semester, I feel I did not succeed. I am writing this email to you to prove that I deserve a better grade. Even though I tried my hardest in all my classes, especially yours, this semester has been filled with problems that are not school related. These issues ranged from problems with my relationships with friends to my family problems affecting me while I was attending classes. There were just times when my work was not above average through this whole semester and caused me to not succeed in most of my classes. To salvage this year, I ask you to give me a better grade in your class for this semester. Thank you.

Reflection 2.2

For my second draft, I felt my thoughts were clearer on this paper. I feel this paper is a lot better than my first one and I do have a lot more sources that work towards my paper. I need to ask a couple of questions about my academic sources, but other than that, I should almost be set on my sources. I remember at group conferences that many people said my opinion was missing and that I was not taking a stand at any point. I made it clear what stand I was going to take for this paper. I still have some questions about the rogerian idea of the argument. I am just not sure if my paper is rogerian enough. Like I try not to point fingers and I do have a compromise at the end. I try to set up situations where it explains the problem of the death penalty and leave them open ended, but I feel that is not enough for a rogerian argument. That is the main problem I feel my paper is going through.

2.2 Against the Death Penalty

I was raised to cherish all life, but at the same time I was taught at a young age that bad behavior will result in negative consequences from my parents and teachers. My childhood reflects these beliefs. I was always a good boy who mostly did what was right and after realizing some actions were wrong, did not do them again. My childhood learning of good and bad differs much from the real world. This can be seen within the death penalty. The death penalty takes what I have learned to the next level. The issue that covers the death penalty is what should a criminal receive for a serious case of murder? Do we as a state cherish life over justice? Or do we take a page out of the rules of Hammurabi and use the old saying “An eye for an eye”?

At the age of 31, Paul Powell was recently put to death by the state of Virginia using the electric chair (Stewart 1). Paul Powell was given the death penalty because of the rape and murder of a 16 year old girl. Paul Powell was originally sentenced in 2000 and was convicted with murder, but that was overturned. After this incident, Paul Powell decided to write a letter bragging about the crime he committed and explains in some detail what he did that night of the crime. This became new evidence and he was later convicted of murder and given the death penalty in 2003. The idea that this man was originally given the wrong sentence explains some of the flaws of the judicial process.

Since 1973, when the death penalty was reinstated in a majority of the states, a total of 135 inmates have been released from the death row and are now considered innocence. (Death Penalty 101) All of these verdicts were overturned due to new DNA evidence that revealed the criminal was innocence to begin with. It is easy feel remorse for the criminals that spent a good portion of their life in jail, but no one realizes the problem of these people wasting their lives in the correctional system. This is due to the people who made the mistakes of conviction not admitting to their flawed decision. As a result, no one will ever be blamed when a situation like this occurs. This also brings up new ideas about how inaccurate the death penalty process can be.

An issue that is connected with the death penalty is the execution of people with mental retardation problems. The academic journal “Standford-Binet and WAIS IQ differences and their implications for adults with intellectual disability”, “People with ID (mental retardation) convicted of capital crimes are no longer subject to the death penalty.” (Wayne 1) This quote sums up how the death penalty process in the United States deals with people who have mental retardation problems. Many people, including myself, consider the death penalty cruel and immoral. I believe a person with mental problems could have not understood the crimes and actions they commit. If this is the case, the system could be killing a person of society who did not know what he/she was doing wrong. But at the same time, there have been accusations of people pretending to have mental problems to avoid the death penalty. It was estimated that 35 people have been executed with mental retardation problems since 1977 (Reynolds 1). It is “estimated” because there are some cases where a mental retardation can be very mild or could be overlooked by the system. Even with many laws being added to protect people with mental retardation against the death penalty, the issue of execution of people with mental retardation problems can be argued both ways when discussing the sides of the death penalty.

When talking about the death penalty, there are many issues that force people to choose one side. However, these same issues that force people to choose a side sometimes makes other people stuck on what side to choose. These issues include the execution of people with mental retardation, the idea that a jury could be bias, that evidence could be flawed, and many more. These issues are the reasons why the death penalty is controversial in the United States.

There are many arguments that could be made for or against using the death penalty. I feel the United States is better off not using the death penalty. The death penalty does not cherish the life of criminals and does not make fair and equal judgments on all criminals that go through the judicial process. Also, I feel there could be bias within the people who run the process, which creates an unfair trial and could result in a wrong verdict. The main reason I don’t agree with the death penalty is because the people placed in prisons have a chance to change their views and ways of life. To give someone another chance to change their way of life seems like a better option than taking their life away. I am not saying the people that support the death penalty do not care about the life of others, but I feel the supporters of the death penalty value justice and fairness over life.

There is inconsistency with the consequences assigned for similar actions. For example, a person who commits murder can get 10 years in jail and another person who commits murder can receive the death penalty. Could that be due to the way the murderer killed his victim? Could it have been the type of person he killed? In the end, the result is exactly the same, a person was murdered. From the Charlotte Observer News Paper article Death Penalty System “irretrievably” broken, the article stated, “there was no way to ensure essential fairness and consistency of the system (death penalty) because it produces such widely varying results. (“Death Penalty system ‘irretrievably broken’” 2)” It doesn’t seem fair that one murder could receive the death penalty for killing a person and another person could receive 10 years. The death penalty system is not fair to all criminals.

In the United States, a person can only receive the death penalty by a jury of people making a unanimous decision. People can receive the death penalty through unfair trials because the bias jury members could have and racial stereotypes that the jury members could have brought into the courtroom. Jury members are screened and asked questions in order to prevent any them from having any bias towards a person or race, but in reality bias can’t ever be prevented. It’s not that they are all racist, but all people have some idea of a certain type of person or race. These ideas could be positive or negative ideas, but it is nearly impossible to find a jury full of people who are not bias. From the Death penalty Information Center, an example of a bias towards African Americans can be seen in this quote, “careful analysis of race and death penalty … which reveals that the odds of receiving a death sentence are nearly four times (3.9) higher if the defendant is black. (Dieter 3)” This quote explains an existing bias towards African Americans in some regions in the Untied States. In 2006, a total of 649 African Americans were executed in all the states that allow the death penalty (“Capital Punishment, 2006- Statistical Tables”). It is unknown if those African Americans received a fair trial with an unbiased jury. The idea that people can be bias towards other people and come to a decision that produces a wrongful death sentence makes the idea of using the death penalty less appealing.

The main reason the United States has jails is to house criminals and keep them away from society. If the main goal of jails is to protect the society, criminals should be kept in jail forever. This idea does seem stretched, but another reason for jails is to allow people to change. Jails, also known as correctional facilities, can be the perfect environment for criminals to change their lives before reentering the general public. These criminals are isolated from the general public and placed into an environment where everyone around them has committed crimes and has done bad. Being able to see who criminals really are can inspire inmates to change who they want to be. To give someone the death penalty is essentially robbing a person’s ability to change their life. There are people who prefer to see people executed because of the crimes they have committed, but a person who is able to realize what he/she has done will result in a better ending, even if the criminal never gets out of jail.

There are arguments that could be made to end the use of the death penalty. But supporters of the death penalty will believe the system is fair for all crimes that are committed. They also believe that the screenings for the jury members are suffice in determining if a person will or will not receive a death sentence without bias. There are many creditable reasons why people should support the death penalty. The main reason is that people support the death penalty is because they believe in justice. These supporters want the public to see that the United States is a land that is fair and serves justice to all their criminals. The death penalty is one way they are able to accomplish this.

The death penalty has left the nation divided. While researching this topic, it was realized that a compromise can never be made with the idea of executing a criminal for their crime. However, things can be changed about how the criminal is executed and different verdicts other than the death sentence. Rather than being executed, more people can be placed into jail with a life sentence. This is the only compromise that can ever be made with the issue of executing someone or not executing someone. Even though it will cost tax payer more to keep these criminals in jail, it is the only way to satisfy both sides. Another option could be the method of execution. The current methods of execution are electric chair, lethal injection, hanging, firing squad and lethal gas (“Methods of Execution” 1). The best thing to do is to eliminate the inhumane methods of execution and to only use lethal injection. The lethal injection process was created with the intent to provide the criminal a painless death. The most moral thing to give to a criminal should be humane and painless death. This also ties into the idea that relates with public executions. The idea that the criminal knows that many people are watching him die can make him suffer mentally. From the academic journal “Neither Justice nor Mercy: Public and Private Executions in Rhode Island,” the idea of public executions and its history through the state of Rhode Island is explained. It explains that originally people were supporting the idea of public executions through “hangings”. But in the end, the novel explains how people decided to step in to abolish these “unruly behaviors” (Chambers 1). With these suggestions, I feel more people will have fewer arguments about the death penalty.

The issue of the death penalty will always be a controversial one in the United States. This is because the extremes can never be combined into one solution. But with some changing and some compromising, many people would not disagree with each other about the death penalty anymore.


“Capital Punishment, 2006- Statistical Tables”. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2006. Office of Justice Programs. Web March 10, 2010

Chambers, Stephen. “Neither Justice nor Mercy: Public and Private Executions in Rhode Island” New England Quarterly. September 2009. EBSCO Host Web March 10, 2010

“Death Penalty 101”. American Civil Liberties Union. April 7, 2007. American Civil Liberties Union. Web March 10, 2010“Death Penalty system ‘irretrievably broken’”. Charlotte Observer. March 21, 2010. Charlotte Observer. Web March 10, 2010

“Death Penalty system ‘irretrievably broken’”. Charlotte Observer. March 21, 2010. Charlotte Observer. Web March 10, 2010

Dieter, Richard. “The Death Penalty in Black and White; who lives, Who Dies, Who Decides” The Death Penalty Information Center. The Death Penalty Information Center. Web March 10, 2010

“Methods of Execution”. Prosecuting Attorney. The Clark County. Web March 10, 2010

Reynolds, Dave. “Mental Retardation and the Death Penalty in the U.S.A”. Ragged Online. May 1, 2001. Ragged Online. Web March 10, 2010

Silverman, Wayne. “Standford-Binet and WAIS IQ differences and their implications for adults with intellectual disability”. March 2010. EBSCO Host. Web March 10, 2010

Stewart, Amanda. “Paul Powell Dies in electric Chair”. Inside NoVa. March 18, 2010. News and Messengers. Web March 10, 2010

Reflection 2.1

For my reflection, the first thought about writing this was that it was going to be easy. It was nothing close to easy. I had so many questions I had to ask and look up before I could get a close idea of what the paper was suppose to sound like and look like. I thought I was going to use the examples in class, but I remembered the some of the examples in class were more semi rogerian works. I felt I just didn’t get a template of what a rogerian piece of work was suppose to have. I tried to follow guides that explain what was needed for each section of the paper, but I still felt it was a lot harder than the rebuttal. That really sums up the problems while writing the paper that I had, but the second problem I had was the topic. I just wasn’t sure if I was allowed or should do the death penalty again. I felt it would be a good idea to write another style of paper for the same topic, but also to choose the other side so I get a whole different perspective. If I am allowed to, ill probably keep with death penalty again, but I would just change my perspective on the issue. I feel I had a lot of trouble (and it did reflect on my first draft) because I just haven’t read many of these arguments. Like it was stated in class, it is a style of writing that isn’t used all the time. I just have to get to read more and get a feel on how to construct these papers and how they are suppose to feel. This is the one thing I feel I am struggling on the most.

2.1 Death Penalty rogerian

How do you tell someone that in X amount of years, they will die? When he/she ask why they are going to die, what would you say? You could give them a long explanation about what they did and what effect it had on many people in a society, or you could just tell them it was a crime that they were committed. Either way, this is the basics of the death penalty. The death penalty, also known as Capital Punishment, is the verdict of death to a person who is proven to have committed a serious crime or crimes. These crimes tend to be murders of different degrees. What makes the death penalty so controversial is what makes our individual values all so different from each other. Everyone values different things and/or values things over other issues. Some people will value life over anything in the world. This could be coupled with people that value justice and fairness in our society. Either way, we can see that the death penalty is an issue is not just a split decision in the United States, but also an issue in many other nations around the world.

A majority of states do support the death penalty to be a possible verdict given to criminals in their state. The reasons why these states support the death penalty is because they believe in a judicial system that will mirror the severity of the crimes committed. A state that supports the death penalty will also favor the protection of people in the community and the fairness and justice towards the criminals. This does not mean that states who don’t the support the death penalty don’t care for the protection of the people and the fairness towards criminals, it is just they favor different methods and believe in different ways to carry out sentencing towards criminals and their committed crimes.

I feel I am a person who is stuck in the middle of all arguing and disagreement about the death penalty. If you were to ask me right now whether I was for or against the use of the death penalty, I would be stuck in between both sides. I feel my answer towards the question at hand would not be single side. Rather, my answer would have to be a combination of both current solutions. I feel that with the problems that can be coupled with the death penalty, which can be people being given the death penalty off non credible information, racial profiling, carelessness of life, etc, and the negatives of not having the death penalty, which can be increased crime rates and increase funding for more jails, the answer must come with a mixture of the two current solutions that deal with criminals that have committed serious crimes.

The people who support the death penalty, which is a majority of the states, feel the positives of keeping the death penalty out weights the issues that people against the death penalty make public. The main issues that people against the death penalty state are that the death penalty is unethical, cruel, expensive and not necessary. This doesn’t mean that people who are supporting the death penalty are cruel monsters who have a lot of money. It could be the complete opposite. People who support the death penalty believe in the semi opposites of these claims. They believe that the death penalty process is a fair process that is sufficient in allowing a person to be killed by the government because of his/her actions and any method of execution should be allowed varying from state to state.

There are many reasons for people to be on the other side of the fence of the death penalty. I feel people who are against the death penalty value life and the emotions of many parties related to the people involved with the crime (victims, criminals and their family). Quoted from the webpage balanced politics, which is a website that tries to explain the controversial issues of today’s government and society, “It is barbaric and violates the cruel and usual clause in the Bill of Rights”? People against the death penalty will believe that the government is murdering criminals for serious crimes by the main method of 3 injections or could use the less common method of the electric chair. Either way, the same results are the same. These methods could be called barbaric because if you could realize and feel the pain that the criminal would go through, you would basically be dead. The reason why the electric chair is considered to be a less common method is because the shear thought to execute a human being with the use of volts and electricity plans into the stereotype of torture, which is always a negative though in the United States. The more common 3 injection is a system that was created to make the person receiving the lethal injection feels no pain throughout the whole process. The problem and idea of receiving no pain throughout the whole process is we could never know if the human being will feel pain or not. From the Death Penalty Information Center, the lethal injections consist of 3 liquids that are injected into the person. The first is sodium pentothal which basically puts a person into a claim state of mind. The second is a pancuronium bromide that will cause the body to be paralyzed and will result in the person feeling no pain with the third liquid is injected. And the third liquid is potassium chloride which is the thing that will cause death by stopping the heart. Some experts believe that the pancuronium bromide will not be enough to cause a painless death. These are just two explanations of why people believe the death penalty is considered barbaric and cruel.

What is so wrong about killing a person who killed another person? If this is to be a true fact, why isn’t everyone who has committed murder to another human being killed through the government? This is another reason why people argue about the death penalty. How do you determine the extent of whether a person should receive the death penalty? People who don’t support the death penalty say that no one should receive the death penalty for any crimes they committed, even if it the murder could have been extreme and cruel to the victim and their family. On the other hand, people who support the death penalty believe that a jury of people who have been screened and been considered qualified are able to determine whether a person should receive the death penalty or just jail time for a murder committed. Either way you decide to look at it, there will be more issues and more complaints that cover either choice.

Like I stated earlier, I sit on the fence. I know most people think you have to be one way or the other, but I still feel stuck. To make a solution for myself, I should try to compromise between both sides and make a whole new system that satisfies everyone. But I see no possible way to combine both of these solutions. Either way, the end result is someone will die or someone will stay in jail. If you decide to keep the death penalty, there will probably never be a way to ensure a person die a painless death. If you decide to remove the death penalty, you could be seen as a nation who does not have a fair system and a nation that treats criminals very nicely.

This topic will constantly be argued and the possibility of finding a compromise between both sides will probably never be found, but overtime this issue will naturally come to a settlement.






http://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/lethal-injection-moratorium-executions-ends-after-supreme-court-decision

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/01/10/1171076/death-penalty-system-irretrievably.html <--- Opinion


http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-and-death-penalty

Pre Writing Essay 2

Topics I would consider are death penalty, abortion, taxes, etc. I feel there are many topics that would be excellent choices for this essay because all that is mainly needed is the other side. Something in me wants to do death penalty again for this paper. I felt that when I was doing my rebuttal, it was hard for me to sit on one side of the fence. I was never a person who stated my views for the death penalty because I am stuck on which way that argument could go. So with this being an argument that embraces the idea of using both sides to your advantages, I feel the idea of the death penalty is almost the best topic possible. But at the same time, I wouldn’t want to overdue the idea of death penalty because I bet a lot of the other students would consider writing about the death penalty as well. There are many other options as well that I can choose for this argument, but I might go with a not so well known idea. These ideas could be like how effective is taxes, etc.