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Laurel Kohutek
Connie Douglas
English 112
10th September, 2014

Capital Punishment: When Do We Cross the Line?

Capital punishment, or more commonly known as the death penalty, is a very in depth
subject all over the world. The death penalty occurs when someone commits a heinous crime,
and the government feels that person could not be released into society, or even a regular state
prison. Such as Jeffery Dahmer or Ted Bundy .Edward Koch mayor of New York for twelve
years has his doubts, but in his article he states very clearly that he is for the death penalty. He
believe that there are excuses being made to prevent the death penalty when in fact those excuses
have explanations. Furthermore, Mario Cuomo, former governor of New York and avid studier
of capital punishment disagrees with capital punishment in many ways. Cuomo states Capital
punishment is a misuse of our power and gives into humanities darkest impulses.
Edward Koch conveys his beliefs through an article on newsmax.com. Koch states that
if six out of six prosecutions were to take place instead of one of six, and the executions being
posted on the internet and the cover of major papers, that will be a deterrence of crime justifiable
by death, but instead people are slacking on the death penalty which makes it not mean as much.
It doesnt scare criminals like it should. His article is written in brief paragraphs each stating

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something similar to the one before but adding more information as well. Techniques like this
were very successful because it was and easy read although very articulate. Forms such as these
enhances the content because it makes it a lot easier to find content you may need. There are
little to no weaknesses in this article. I believe Edward conveys his beliefs exactly the way he
meant to and it has worked. The strengths are the facts he brings to the table such as when blacks
and Hispanics try and claim racism as a plea, when in fact it is proven blacks and Hispanics
commit more murders than whites. Racism shouldnt be an argument at all due to the studies that
have been done and the ones continuing to progress. He did not address any opposing views.
Providing one wouldve been beneficial to support the way he feels about capital punishment.
Mario Cuomo writes an article about how Capital punishment is heinous. In this
country people are committing heinous crimes every day. People have chopped people into
pieces, is that not a crime justifiable by death? Why spend our tax dollars, and time on housing
someone who has brought such grief to the victims family, who if released into society would
continue to do heinous crimes to feed his desires. We are concerned about people who are not
concerned about us. Cuomo Believed that the people being sent to death was an ineffective
way of punishing someone. Cuomo stated I know this society should strive for something
better, than what it feels at its weakest moments. He wrote this in a way that was easy to
understand by writing in short paragraphs speaking in terms a lay person could understand, not
some political terms in which no one can understand. The article is organized and developed in a
short paragraph form, with concise sentences. In these concise sentences he is relaying facts as
well which makes it a far better effective article. The form enhances the content because it isnt a
turnoff to students who are in need of good information but cant understand some of the articles
written by other political officials. The weakness of the article is that although he disagrees with

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capital punishment, its proven that sixty-one percent of America believe it is constitutional. The
strengths of the article is the way it is written in an understandable fashion. Mario Cuomo does
not address opposition. He should have brought some opposing viewpoints to help support his
analysis of the capital punishment issue.
The reader agrees that Edward Koch has the better way of getting his intentions across.
He succeeded because he made his article simple and to the point with a lot of useful information
included. Koch appeals to his audience because his audience is a wider variety of people
because of the way his article is written. These articles can tell us that there are many
controversies going on that have divided this country instead of being, One nation under God.
Americas culture is very greedy and there are many individuals who corrupt our nation, and
there are only so many ways to solve these issues. Although some people see the death penalty as
the easy way out, it still is effective in trying to keep our society a safer place.

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Citations

Cuomo, Mario M. "Death Penalty Is Dead Wrong: It's Time to Outlaw Capital
Punishment in AmericaCompletely." New York Daily News 2 Oct. 2011. Rpt. in the Death
Penalty. Ed. Jenny Cromie and Lynn M. Zott. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing
Viewpoints. Opposing viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.
Killinger, Scott. "10 Serial Killers Who Got Their Comeuppance." Mandatory. N.p., n.d.
Web. 03 Dec. 2014.
Koch, Edward. "Justice Is Served with the Death Penalty." The Death Penalty. Ed. Jenny
Cromie and Lynn M. Zott. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from
"Why I Support the Death Penalty." http://www.newsmax.com. 2012. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.