Albachiara 1

Nicole Albachiara
English 102
Professor Adam Padgett
6 February 2016
Is the death penalty an inhumane way to punish criminals?
Personal Context:
As I started considering topics that I could use as a research question, my brain instantly
focused on the main controversial topics such as abortion, legalization of marijuana and
police brutality. After our discussions in class, I searched to find a topic that I did not
have strong predetermined views about.
When thinking of the death penalty, one of the first things that came to mind was how it

GREEN, KAYLIE R 2/11/2016 3:09 PM

Comment [1]: Maybe bring up your chosen
topic of the death penalty in this bullet so it
is introduced in the first paragraph of what
the reader will be reading.

affects the person being killed, the victim of the persons crime but also the family of the
criminal. Depending on the stance I take, I think my values will play a role in how I go
about analyzing the different stances on the topic and creating my own opinion.
I do not have any person experience regarding this topic but have watched many
documentaries on the issue and have always understand how people see it as a terrible
thing as well as a very beneficial thing.
I am qualified because I am using reliable databases given to us by the university and
searching for trustworthy articles that do not have false information.
Three Sources:
Source One: Death Penalty: Another View
1. The central claim of this article is that the death penalty is not a bad thing at all.
People argue that we could accidentally sentence an innocent person to the death

GREEN, KAYLIE R 2/11/2016 3:02 PM

Comment [2]: Maybe change to
understood

Albachiara 2
penalty but the author counters that argument saying that the solution for that is with
the law, not eliminating the death penalty. The other argument that the author touches
on is about how killing a human is barbaric and inhumane. However, the author, Zhu,
reminds the audience of holding criminals accountable for their actions.
2. The interest at stake is to persuade the audience to understand why the death penalty
is not bad and explain how their reasoning can be contradicted. The author values the

GREEN, KAYLIE R 2/11/2016 3:03 PM

Comment [3]: I like the arguments in
number 1. I feel like it is a good contrast and
helps you get your point across.

idea that if you take someones life then yours should be taken in return and the death
penalty dissuades people from committing horrendous crimes.
3. The author is writing for a credible source, Economics and Politics Weekly, he
obviously is biased in believing that the death penalty has no set backs. However, the
author does show the other sides argument and has reasoning as to why he still feels
that it should not be eliminated.
Source Two: The Changing Nature of Death Penalty Debates
1. This articles purpose serves to show statistics on the death penalty and how they have
changed over the years. It then moves on to discuss the arguments that people who
dont support death penalty have. Such as we must prove a point with present
criminals to set a tone to scare potential future criminals from committing murder etc.
2. The major interests the statistics that come along with the death penalty. The author
shows how the favoring of capital punishment has increased and decreased over the
years and basically sets up the audience to think about the issue on their own without
giving a stance.
3. There are two authors for this source, they both write for the Annual Review of
Sociology. It is an educational article written by people who have authority in the

GREEN, KAYLIE R 2/11/2016 3:04 PM

Comment [4]: Maybe start this sentence
with For example, rather than Such as. I
feel like this will help it flow better.

Albachiara 3
matter. They do not really show any bias throughout because they never state a stance
and really defend both sides of the issue.
Source Three: Contesting the Victim Card: Closure Discourse and Emotion in Death
Penalty Rhetoric
1. The authors main purpose is to touch on the idea of how people justify the death
penalty by showing how this gives closure to the victims family. She discusses how
pro-death penalty groups state that no innocent person has ever been sentenced.
While the people who are against capital punishment stand strong in their reasoning
against it.
2. The author is a sociologist so her major purpose of the article and biased is seeing
why and how people fight for or against this issue. She states how people who are for
it think that it gives closure to victims families while people who are against it are
more prone to believe innocent lives have been taken. She doesnt hold much bias
when writing this because she works to understand both sides.
3. The author is a credible source because of her academic achievements. She is
sociology major and has done extensive research about the issue at hand. It was
published by a textbook and has been edited and proofread by many professors and
educated individuals.
Feasibility of the Research Question:
This research question is arguable because it has the ability to be seen from both sides
and each side has strong arguments that can hold up against the other. Two of the sources
both agree that an innocent person could be sentenced as well as the emotional aspect that
plays a role in deciding if we have the right to take a humans life. Both article one and

GREEN, KAYLIE R 2/11/2016 3:06 PM

Comment [5]: Maybe consider mentioning
the authors name here instead of referring
to her as she.

Albachiara 4
two touches on the idea that we must show people what will happen if you decide to
commit a serious crime to hopefully lower future murders and crimes. The different
perspectives show me how complicated this issue really is but I do feel that the death
penalty is needed in order to keep civil order because the counter arguments focus on
more surface level aspects of it. I might revise my research question by being more
specific. If I decide to keep the word inhumane, I should focus primarily on if we have
the right to kill another human and the emotional impacts on the victims family as well
as the criminals.

GREEN, KAYLIE R 2/11/2016 3:10 PM

Comment [6]: I liked how you summed
everything up in this paragraph. The
information and research you found was
perfect for your argument I felt like.