Capital Punishment in the United States Essay -- Death Penalty Row Law

The death penalty is a controversial topic in the United States today and has been for a number of years. The death penalty is currently legal in 38 states and two federal jurisdictions (Winters 97). The death penalty statutes were overturned and then reinstated in the United States during the 1970's due to questions concerning its fairness (Flanders 50). The death penalty began to be reinstated slowly, but the rate of executions has increased during the 1990's (Winters103-107). There are a number of arguments in favor of the death penalty. Many death penalty proponents feel that the death penalty reduces crime because it deters people from committing murder if they know that they will receive the death penalty if they are caught. Others in favor of the death penalty feel that even if it doesn't deter others from committing crimes, it will eliminate repeat offenders. Death penalty opponents feel that the death penalty actually leads to an increase in crime because the death penalty desensitizes people to violence, and it sends the message that violence is a suitable way to resolve conflicts. Death penalty opponents also condemn the death penalty because of the possibility of an innocent person being put to death, and because it can be unfairly applied. Death penalty opponents feel that the death penalty must be abolished because it cheapens the value of human life. The death penalty desensitizes people to murder and violence because, by executing people, the state sends the message that violence is an acceptable means of resolving conflicts (Terrill). The death penalty also reduces the gravity of the loss of human life by making it legal for the state to kill people it deems to be beyond reform (Winters 57). Death penalty oppo... ...es, even though 80% of the population is in favor of it, because of the numerous ethical and practical issues that must be taken into consideration (Winters139-144). Experts on both sides of the argument have numerous statistics and studies to back up their claims and to refute the claims of their opponents. Death penalty supporters hold that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime, and brings justice to killers. However, death penalty opponents maintain that the death penalty does not deter criminals, and desensitizes people to violence. There are no easy answers to the questions surrounding the imposition of the death penalty in the United States. Thus one should pursue this question with an open mind and consider all sides of the argument, because as Thomas Jefferson once said, "difference of opinion leads to inquiry, and inquiry leads to truth" (Winters 11).

Summary of Sam Shepard’s play: Buried Child

Buried child was penned down by Sam Shepard in 1978. This play is one of the Sam Shepard’s master pieces of all time. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Shepard received the Gold Medal for Drama from the Academy in 1992, and in 1994 he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame. Shepard is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of more than forty five plays. Shepard won Obie Awards for eleven of his plays including Buried Child. (Amazon) In his family drama, Buried Child, Shepard takes a shocking look at an American Midwestern Family who has buried their dark secret in the field.This takes a form of paradox because the characters seem intricately entangled to each other by dark secrets; they are also for all time alone. In the start of the play Halie and Dodge engage into a hilariously gaunt quarrel wich they seem to have been having forever. Married to Halie, 65 year old, Dodge is seventy years old drunkard, smoker and frequently has violent coughing outbursts. He is seventy years old. Halie spends time with the church Father. The father is an alcoholic and likes to spend time with women. He enjoys the not-so-secret affair with Halie.Dodge fathered three children with Halie. Tilden, the oldest son shows up after 20 years. Tilden was an All-American quarterback or fullback. Now he is mixed up in the head and can't take care of himself. Bradley is not considered very bright; he chopped his leg in a chainsaw accident. Bradley has serious discrepancy with Dodge. Ansel, the soldier died in a motel, on his honeymoon with the Catholic Italian girl. Haley believes that Ansel got unlucky the day he married. (Amazon) Vince, Tilden’s son, arrives at the farm house but nobody recognizes him.When Vince brings his girlfriend, Shelly, home to meet his family, she is at first charmed by the â€Å"normal† looking farm house. Bizarrely, no one seems to remember Vince at first, and they treat him as a trespasser and imposter. Ultimately, they r eluctantly agree on acknowledging him as a part of their greatly dysfunctional family. Slowly and gradually, the dark secret that the old couple has been hiding from their children and grandchildren starts to pop out like a seed grows and the plant pops out tearing the earth.Long time back, Dodge buried an unwanted child (the product of an incest relationship between Tilden and his mother) in an undisclosed location. From that point onward, the entire family lived under a cloud of shame that is at last chased away when Tilden discovers the ill-fated child's remains and carries it upstairs to his mother. This act seems to wash out the family of its curse. Corn grows in the fields where nothing would grow for years. The play ends with a declaration of hope from Halie.(Theatre) The most important symbol used in the play is the rain, that lets the crops in the field grow. At the beginning of the play rain falls on the family’s farmhouse and all its visitors, washing away the dirt and the smell and, symbolically, the sins of their past. Some of the most powerful symbols in this play are associated with nature and fertility. The dead land where no crops have grown forever symbolizes Halie. It suggests that Halie was past menopause.The rain that brought the land to life and vegetation and plant life popped out of the dead earth. This particularly symbolizes Tilden’s potential of conceiving a child with his own middle aged mother. Tilden handles to reap the bare fields. (Amazon) References: Buried Child by Sam Shepard, Amazon. com, Amazon (2010), web, July 11, 2010 from http://www. amazon. com/Sam-Shepard-Starving-Turista-Tongues/dp/0553346113 Buried Child, Theatre database, Plot synopsis, n. d. web, July 11, 2010 from http://www. theatredatabase. com/20th_century/buried_child. html

Police Misconduct And The Shooting Death Of Michael Brown

Introduction Community policing in America today has been tremendously affected over the past two years by a number of events involving the police and their interactions with people of color, and minority communities. Most of these problems between the police and minority communities have stemmed from incidents and reports of police misconduct and abuses of power, use of excessive force, and increases in police involved shootings. One major events that drew national attention, caused problems, and put strains on police-community relations involved the shooting death of Michael Brown. On August 9, 2014 Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen male, was shot multiple times by Officer Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson, Missouri police officer. The shooting death of Michael Brown brought about days of public protest and outrage. When the St. Louis County prosecutor refused to bring charges and announced that a grand jury decided not to indict Officer Wilson, it led to major riots and many clashes between l aw enforcement agencies and citizens. Later, after peace was restored in Fergusons, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) was commissioned to step in and conduct a thorough investigation into both the shooting death investigation of Michael Brown and police practices of the Ferguson Police Department. While the investigation conducted by the DOJ did not find any wrong doings in the shooting death of Michael Brown, it did find that the City of Ferguson, city officials, and theShow MoreRelatedShould Body Cameras Be Used?1534 Words   |  7 Pagesrecommendation for reducing police misconduct to increase use of body cameras. By recording police-citizen encounters, police supervisors, judges, reporters, and others can get objective evidence of what happened instead of self serving hearsay. 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