Capital Punishment

A detailed Summary of Capital Punishment

The argument over capital punishment has continued to go on for a long time. Everyone has a different opinion on what they think is right. In the two articles; one written by Edward J. Koch called "Death and Justice" and the other written by Jacob Weisberg titled "This is Your Death" they both try to persuade their audience into agreeing with their argument on the death penalty. I am going to show what rhetorical devices each author uses in their arguments, such as audience, ethos, pathos, logos. I am also going to explain which one is more effective to the intended audience and why.

The purpose of the first article written by Edward J. Koch is trying to persuade people to think capital punishment works effectively. His audience in the article is directed towards people against capital punishment, people who don't have an opinion on it, and for anyone else interested in the topic. I think he does a good job affecting his intended audience by using three main rhetorical devices. Many logical statements are used by the author, which applies to logos. First, Koch says in the article, "Life is indeed precious, and I believe the death penalty helps to affirm this fact. Had the death penalty been a real possibility in the m

Although Weisberg uses pathos extremely well in his article, I only picked up on two main uses of logos. One was that improving the methods for death is not necessarily going to decrease the suffering. This is logical because it doesn't matter what method is used, mistakes can happen any time. But this is a weak statement because we don't know how often these mistakes will actually occur. Secondly Weisberg says that, "It is punishing people with death, not the manner in which they are killed, that is the true issue here; that capital punishment is to be opposed not simply because it is cruel, but because it is wrong"(748). This is probably his main argument; that the death penalty is simply wrong, but instead of talking about how it is wrong in the majority of the article he talks about how cruel it is. This is why I think Koch does a better job of using logos. He says that the death penalty will affect the killer's decision. This is much clearer than Weisberg's use which the reader can get confused on what his main point is.

He explains in the article a little about himself. During his 22 years of public service, he has heard all of the pros and cons of capital punishment expressed with special intensity. As a district leader, councilman, congressman, and mayor, he has represented constituencies generally thought of as liberal. Koch also says, "Because I support the death penalty for heinous crimes of murder, I have sometimes been the subject of emotional and outraged attacks by voters who find my position reprehensible or worse. I have listened to their ideas. I have weighed their objections carefully. I still support the death penalty" (737) This applies to ethos, because he was a congressman and a mayor and held those high postions he is a respected and credible person. Another use of ethos used was a statement that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Ben Franklin all endorsed the death penalty. These are some of the most famous people in American history stating that the death penalty should be used. How much more credible can you get you might ask. Well how about the bible? "The Bible is our greatest source of moral inspiration. Opponents of the death penalty frequently cite the sixth

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Approximate Word count = 1506
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics