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PeterWadeFirstPaper 4 - 29 Apr 2010 - Main.PeterWade
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| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstPaper" |
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| | | The Death Penalty in America
In much of the world, including most of those “western” nations we in America like to consider our peers, capital punishment is considered barbaric. While Americans decry the status of human rights in so many other countries, and send young idealists to Africa, or Cambodia, or South America, international organizations in other countries send their young lawyers here, to America, to work to oppose our human rights problem. | |
<
< | Of course, there are those in this country that also oppose this practice, but why is
there not a more publicized debate, a la gay marriage or abortion?
Why does it receive such relatively little scrutiny?
You really think the
death penalty in America gets little scrutiny?
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> | Of course, there are those in this country who also oppose this practice, but discussion on the topic often seems to take a back seat to other controversial issue in the national political discourse, even among those who feel strongly about it. | | | Public Support
The simple answer is public opinion. As of 2009, 65% of Americans support the death penalty, and state legislators know this. The Supreme Court also knows this. In Gregg v Georgia, the case that reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the Court noted that in determining the constitutionality of the practice, they must look to the “contemporary public attitudes” that reflect “evolving standards of human decency.” | | | worries that he'll be thrown out of office for too much spending on
trying to execute the "worst" murderers. | |
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< | Popular support for the death penalty makes opposing it an uphill battle, and principled negative attacks on capital punishment may be more polarizing than effective. It might be more persuasive to shift focus from abstract arguments based on morality and human rights, to increased empirical study and a positive discussion of the practical economic impact of alternatives. Though not the newest argument, in today's struggling economy, it may have become the strongest.
"May have become" are
weasel words for "I haven't the slightest evidence that this is true,
but I'll say it anyway." | >
> | Popular support for the death penalty makes opposing it an uphill battle, and principled negative attacks on capital punishment may be more polarizing than effective. It would be more persuasive to shift focus from abstract arguments based on morality and human rights, to increased empirical study and a positive discussion of the practical economic impact of alternatives. Though not the newest argument, in today's struggling economy, further study and emphasis on the financial burden of the capital system is an important part of the discussion. | | | Conclusion | |
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< | Taking this path, maybe we can avoid trying to topple the beliefs of the “morally acceptable” crowd, and instead appeal to that section of America that might be persuaded to consider alternatives. If what the current system might be doing to innocent defendants doesn't give people pause, maybe what it is doing to them will. | >
> | Taking this path, maybe we can avoid trying to topple the beliefs of the “morally acceptable” crowd, and instead appeal to that section of America that might be persuaded to consider alternatives. If what the current system might be doing to innocent defendants doesn't give people pause, what it is doing to them will. | | | A conclusion about
"maybe" shows that the preceding argument doesn't have much purchase |
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