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Ethan Klemons 2/10/2014 English 1102-093 Rhetorical Analysis Paper Capital Punishment: Is it right or wrong? One topic that has sparked huge discussion over the years involves the constitutionality of capital punishment. Many people have the belief that capital punishment could be classified as a cruel and unusual punishment while the others view it as a way of punishing evil. Beverly Ballaro, the author of Point: Capital Punishment Should Be Abolished wrote his article in opposition of the death penalty. He claims that capital punishment is useless as a deterrent, morally indefensible, discriminatory in practice, and prone to errors(Bowman). Jeffrey Bowman, the author of Counterpoint: The Death Penalty is Necessary claims the exact opposite: Opponents of the death penalty routinely argue that it does not deter crime. They miss the point: the death penalty is about punishment not the deterrence of crime.(Ballaro) Both of these articles were written in 2011. Both authors have a common audience, being the people interested in following this controversial issue. In addition, the two also share the same intent of opening the eyes of their counterparts. Ballaro and Bowman were both successful in explaining their viewpoints, the main difference between the two articles is how they approached their arguments. Jeffrey Bowman made an excellent argument in showing the necessity of the death penalty. He made it clear that the issue is very controversial and recognized the beliefs of the other side. Bowman wrote his article by giving the reader a brief history of murder, then the history of the death penalty. This background information eventually led to his discussion of the

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death penalty in the United States. This format was very beneficial to the readers in that it presented facts prior to explaining the authors viewpoint. According to Bowman, human life is sacred, and that the killers who take the lives of their victims forfeit the rights to their own (Bowman). Bowmans argument was most affective when he agreed that the death penalty has been abused in the past. Through this statement, Bowman gave real life examples; such as, the execution of Jesus Christ, the execution of Socrates, and the Nazi government. Although he admits to this, he later counters by showing how the death penalty works in the United States. The death penalty is much different in the United States than it has been in many other societies. We have a much stronger judicial system: the reality is that there are few innocent people on death row; the vast majority of these inmates did, in fact, commit the crimes for which they were found guilty (Bowman). Bowman also continuously stresses that capital punishment is not about deterring crime, but punishment. In doing this, Bowman describes the ancient Mesopotamian Code of Hammurabi which was known for the phrase an eye for an eye. Bowman sincerely believed that the ultimate crime deserves the ultimate punishment. One weakness of this paper was that Bowman should have included more statistical information to support his claims. Beverly Ballaro wrote her paper trying to show the exact opposite of Bowman. Ballaro claimed the death penalty is completely useless in deterring crime. She initially talks about capital punishment in the United States and later discusses the discriminatory applications of it. Bowman then goes on to describe fatal errors and concludes her paper. Bowman had many weaknesses in presenting her argument. While discussing the discriminatory applications of the death penalty, she failed to logically prove that more African Americans receive the death penalty merely because of their race. Bowman failed to understand that there are many other

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factors that account to that claim. Just because more African Americans are convicted of crimes doesnt mean that they were convicted strictly due to their race. If one understands anything about criminal justice, they would know that many other factors such as socioeconomic status affect this statistic. Correlation does not equal causation. Another weakness that Ballaro presented was that she failed to understand how important retribution is for families. If the government fails to give retribution for the families, chaos emerges. This was shown in Bowmans article as he described blood feuds and how families took on the task of avenging ones death. In addition, she also failed to show the other side when presenting her argument. Ballaro did, however, do a good job at presenting statistical information and showing extensive knowledge on the issue. The main problem that she had was that she appeared to be completely oblivious of the other side. Jeffrey Bowman did a far better job at presenting his argument. Although the topic can easily be argued both ways, Ballaro failed to counter the opposite viewpoint and left her main points easy to object. Bowman is successful because he makes it clear that there are flaws to the death penalty yet shows his side in a completely different perspective. The two authors both made a good appeal to their audience; Bowman just did a better job. Both articles show that our society has many different beliefs on right or wrong. After all, the nation is practically split between support and opposition of the death penalty.

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Works Cited Ballaro, BeverlyCushman, C. Ames. "Point: Capital Punishment Should Be Abolished." Points Of View: Death Penalty (2011): 2. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 11 Feb. 2014. Bowman, JeffreyDiLascio, Tracey M. "Counterpoint: The Death Penalty Is Necessary." Points Of View: Death Penalty (2011): 3. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.