Sister Helen

In this paper I will be discussing everything you need to know about the death penalty such as its pros and cons. While the innocent can be killed, the death penalty has its pros because it prevents them from killing again if they are released or have escaped from prison, it helps overpopulated prisons, and it can help victims’ families get justice and closure. Not only can the innocent be killed, but in the past the death penalty was very inhumane. To some its feels right but to others they feel like 2 wrongs don’t make a right. Most people think that the defendant deserves the death penalty, but what does the defendants’ family think?

Would it be true that capital punishment saves lives? Edward Koch, in his article “Death and Justice” believes it does. Koch, using common techniques to influence his audience, suggests that killers should be handled within this tried and avenged form of punishment. Koch opens his article by quoting convicted murderers Robert Lee Willie and Joseph Carl Shaw, both in the last moments of their lives pleading for the justice system to put a stop to the endless cycle of killing. Using simple logic, Koch argues that the sudden changing of the killers’ moral character is not a result of remorse for the victims, but rather an attempt to save their own lives from the killing hands of the justice system. Koch effectively uses these quotes to suggest to the reader that a killer might have thought twice about his/her own actions if the death sentence were a belief.

Capital punishment is a subject full of controversy. When it comes to the topic of the death penalty, most of us will readily agree that it’s a grim subject. Where this agreement usually ends however, is on the question of how necessary it is. Whereas some are convinced that capital punishment is not only cruel its useless as well, others maintain that it is necessary for justice to be adequately served . In the article “The Penalty of Death” by H.L. Mencken the author addresses the objections against the death penalty as well as his stand on the whole issue while using several rhetorical strategies to not only get his viewpoint across but, make the reader really think about their own stand on the death penalty. Three of the most effective

In “The Death Penalty is a Step Back” is a written essay by Coretta Scott King, argues that the death penalty is unethical and illegitimate. In doing so, she develops this strong statement by, first, establishing her moral right to make this statement and to promote a non-violence over the death penalty.

In view of these safeguards, proponents of capital punishment believe that state executions are justified sentences for those convicted of willful first-degree murder. They do not think sentencing murderers to prison is a harsh enough sentence, especially if there is the possibility of parole for the perpetrator. A final argument posed by proponents of the death penalty is that execution is an effective deterrence. They are convinced that potential murderers will likely think twice before they commit murder. Despite the rhetoric of politicians for the increased use of the death penalty, a number of prominent individuals and organizations have emerged to express their opposition to capital punishment. Along with families of death row prisoners, the International Court of The Hague, the United Nations, Amnesty International, the Texas Conference of Churches, Pope John Paul II, Nobel Peace recipient, Bishop Tutu, numerous judges and former prosecutors, former Attorney General, Ramsey Clark, actors, and writers are waging a determined struggle against the death penalty. They invariably argue that capital punishment is wrong and inhumane. Religious folk generally evoke the nature of an “ideal spiritual community” (Cauthen, 1). Within this perspective, a moral and ethical community does not insist on a life for a life. While a community must act to protect law- abiding citizens, an ethical response would be to

The overall effectiveness of the argument is that Hitchens thinks that the death penalty should be abolished completely. Although this essay was written in 2001, the death penalty is still as controversial now as it was then. People think that it should be stopped because it is wrong to take someone’s life for a punishment, while others think that it should not be stopped simply because it is not fair to the people that are affected. Throughout Hitchens essay, he uses ethos to convince the reader that a death with choosing is wrong, he uses logos as simple logic to prove his point, and pathos to persuade his reader by enhancing a sympathetic emotion to gain support. Hitchens ends his essay with a quote from Edna St. Vincent Millay from her poem Conscientious Objector, “I shall die, but that is all I shall do for death” (104). This means that death shall not be feared, but welcomed with open arms, however individuals should not encourage death upon anyone or help it out in any

“I feel that due to the violence of the crime and the apparent utter lack of mercy shown victims, the only way the public can be absolutely protected is to have the death

My blood boiled. My face was a deep scarlet resembling fiery, bright lava. I looked at my sister. Her smug face made the bomb inside of me tick faster. Before I knew it, I felt a stinging impact; my hand leaving a distinctive red mark across her cheek. Not long after, I felt the same pain my sister had. I stared at my mother in shock. To this day, I still reflect over the irony of that one moment. My mom attempted to teach me not to hit my sister by striking me. However, this contradictious lesson was not practical. It did not fix my behavior; the only change was that I questioned my punishment. This applies to the broken system we have here in America. The death penalty is not only paradoxical, but it is a costly process that does succeed in deterring crimes. Capital punishment is not beneficial to our society.

Attending college was a huge accomplishment for Helen, as she was the first deaf-blind person ever to attend a college. The college's curriculum required a lot of extra work on both Helen and Annie's part. Helen was an remarkable writer and she would type papers using the Braille typewriter. Before long, Helen was a paid writer for Ladies' Home Journal, where Keller would write articles about her life. Although she loved her work, she felt overcome by all of the writing.

If we examine some arguments presented from both sides, opponents of the capital punishment claim that executing someone is nothing more than an immoral, state-authorized killing which undervalues the human life and destroys our respect for our government which itself says that killing is wrong. But the supporters of the death penalty think that certain murderers

With time violence may become such a commonplace that even seemingly sane people will see no problem murdering a store clerk, opening fire on someone that cut them off on the highway, or killing a disobedient child. "A society that chooses violent death as a solution to a social problem gives official sanction to a climate of violence." (Prejean, 57)

In the Miracle Worker there is a quote that Annie says,”She wants to be like us,” and she is referring to Helen, because Helen tries to talk even if she can’t. Sometimes people try to be like others. For example,when I’m about to pay for something and my sister gets something better I try to find something the same as well. Another example, is when someone was wearing an Adidas shirt I went to go look for one in my size, but there wasn’t any. Also when you're about to go somewhere you try to look your best to impress the people that are going to be there.

A. Attention Getter: Thou shall not kill, only one of the ten commandments that some individuals unfortunately can not seem to uphold. What would the world look like if we did not have an “eye for an eye” mentality? The debate about whether or not capital punishment is ethical or immoral is significant because our country is spending unnecessary amounts on death penalty executions, in which citizens do not know enough about the subject matter to disagree or protest its use. While tax payers are paying for this procedure, the death penalty poses many moral insurrections.

"Punishment," writes McTaggart, "is pain and to inflict pain on any person obviously needs justification." But if the need to justify punishment is obvious, the manner of doing so is not. In fact, there is a wide variety of opinion on the single issue of publicizing execution. For example, Even though Sister Helen Prejean, a spiritual advisor who worked with death row inmates wrote the deeply moving novel Dead Man Walking, her ideas to make a difference may be impractical wishes to others. In addition, Prejean finds the moral cost of death penalty too damaging to tolerate, and thus she believes those death row inmates who "have died a thousand times already" deserve to die and stop suffering from "their anticipation of the final horror"

According to opponents of the death penalty, the death penalty, not only does not heal the wounds and hearts of the victim’s family and society, but it will also inflict more hatred and vengeance in the society. As Morgan (2011) said in her chapter “The Death Penalty Does Not Deliver Justice”, death penalty does not allow the relative of the victims to forgive and forget. For instance, she believes that seeing the cold-blooded execution of the criminal will not bring any peace or healing, rather, she believes that being involved in activities with other friends and relatives of the victim, such as the memorial service for the victim will be more effective in bring about peace and healing. In addition, she believes that arresting rather than executing the offender will bring more