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Manuel Gandara
English 114A
John Kubler
19 November 2014
Sample Argument Proposal and Annotated Bibliography
For years the issue of the Death Penalty has been debated on in the United States
for many years. Sates have been debating over the decision on whether capital
punishment should be legal or not. Although the death penalty is only charged for firstdegree murder, there have been court cases that attempt to charge against rapists. The US
Supreme Court case Kennedy v. Louisiana for example, tried to charge Patrick Kennedy
the Death Penalty for raping his eight-year-old stepdaughter but the court turned it down
due to violation of the 8th Amendment. There have also been cases against the death
penalty that consider it to be cruel and unusual punishment which is banned in the
United States by the 8th Amendment. In response to this there have been many changes to
the process of how the convict is killed. There have been ways in which they have been
gassed, hung, shot and electrocuted on a chair. Many of these procedures have been
outlawed for being considered cruel and unusual. Today the most common Death Penalty
procedure is the lethal injection. Although it is considered to be the most human way to
execute a convict, there have been cases that tried to appeal it as cruel and unusual
punishment like the US Supreme Court case Baze v. Reese but it was decided that the
lethal injection was not an illegal execution procedure.
I choose this topic to answer my main central question, which is; does the Death
Penalty actually benefit society in a way that it helps reduce crime? In my opinion I

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believe that it does not and therefore it should be illegal. In my essay I will use the article
Why the Death Penalty Needs to Die by Nick Gillespie to support my claims on how the
death penalty affects the society in a financial way. To support my arguments on how the
Death Penalty costs more money than to imprison people I will use the article Abolish
The Death Penalty by Bill Ryan. I will also use the death row inmate interviews from
Death Role Documentary Florida State Prison to support my claim that criminals do not
think about getting prosecuted and therefore the death penalty does not scare criminals.
Sources
Gillespie, Nick. "Why the Death Penalty Needs To Die." The Daily Beast.
Newsweek/Daily Beast, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
This Article written by Nick Gillespie, analyses the rice of the death Penalty. Gillespie
explains how the death penalty costs the state billions of dollars to administrate Death
Penalty Court cases while a few convicts are actually executed. He emphasis on the time
period between 1980 and 2012 when the state of California spent over four billion dollars
on court cases while about only thirteen inmates were actually executed.

Ryan, Bill. "Abolish The Death Penalty." Chicago Tribune. N.p., 05 Jan. 2001. Web. 20
Nov. 2014.
In this article, Bill Ryan writes on how much the state of Chicago has spent on sending
people to death role. He explains on how for the past twenty years, about 800 million
dollars have been spent to send only 300 prisoners to death role. He explains on how it
would have been cheaper to just keep those 300 prisoners for life sentences without
parole.

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"Top 10 Pros and Cons - Death Penalty - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d.
Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
This website does not specify on an individual argument on the death penalty. It is a list
of con arguments against the Death Penalty. It lists many court cases that have supported
ideas against the death penalty. It also emphasizes on the different executions procedures
that have been declared as cruel and unusual punishment.

"Death Row Documentary Florida State Prison." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 20 Nov.
2014.
This documentary emphasizes on the stories of inmates Robert
Sullivan, Daniel T. Gafford, Dennis Whitney, and their life stories on
Death Row. Sullivan argues against the death penalty by saying that
instead of reducing crimes, capital punishment actually it raises them.
He uses John Spenkelinks execution media exposure as an example.
After John Spenkelink was executed, the crime rate in Miami, Florida
rose by thirteen percent. Gafford aswell argues that there is no benefit
from the death penalty because people who commit crimes dont think
about getting caught. They only think about how the crime will benefit
them. Whitney argues that the death penalty does not punish the
inmate, but it punishes their family. I will use these arguments on my
essay to argue against the death penalty.

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Manuel Gandara
English 114A
John Kubler
19 November 2014
Sample Outline
Thesis Statement: The Death Penalty does not have an effect on lowering crime rates. In
addition, the Death Penalty costs an excessive amount of taxpayer money when it comes
to keeping convicts on death role and therefore it should be illegal.

Outline:
Introduction:
-History of debates concerning capital punishment
-Why different execution procedures have been outlawed.
-Thesis statement elaboration.

Claim 1- Death Penalty doesnt reduce crime rates


-

-Evidence Source- Florida State Prison Documentary Interviews.


Evidence Source- Quotes by Robert Sullivan

Claim 2- The cost of death Penalty


-Evidence Source-Why the death penalty needs to die article

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- Evidence source- Abolish the Death Penalty Article.
-Evidence Source- Pros and Cons article.

Claim 3- the death Penalty is not worth the tax money.


-

Evidence Source- Pros and Consarticle


Evidence Source- Abolish the death penalty article.
Personal experience.
Describe was the states could use the money that will be saved on if their were
death penalty.

Personal Input
-Why I chose this topic
-Connect my Criminal Justice major to it
- Personal experience
Naysayer
-

Counter claims
Acknowledge death penalty pros

Conclusion
-

Re explain my thesis statement


Positive outcome as to how society will benefit from having no death penalty
Describe a world with no Death Penalty

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