10 October 2014
My next article is one that I think I can grab a lot of information from. It talked about abolishing slavery and the many viewpoints from different groups in society that agree with getting rid of the death penalty completely, but these groups did not always agree. It explores the reasons why and how they came to a new opinion. This is essentially what I am trying to do in my paper. I found many great quotes I plan on using in my exploratory paper. It began talking about how on May 2, 2013 Maryland become the 18th American state to abolish the death penalty and the 6th state in six years to abolish it. It is only continuing to grow. Opinions and times are changing. The governor of Connecticut changed their rules against the death penalty in 2012 because, and he states, "My position on the appropriateness of the death penalty in our criminal justice system evolved over a long period of time. As a young man, I was a death penalty supporter. Then I spent years as a prosecutor and pursued dangerous felons in court, including murderers (...) I saw people who were poorly served by their counsel. I saw people wrongly accused or mistakenly identified. I saw discrimination. In bearing witness to those things, I came to believe that doing away with the death penalty was the only way to ensure it would not be unfairly imposed.” His quote helps provide evidence for the opposing side of eliminating the death penalty and supports those against it. I like the idea that he originally was in favor of it but over time he surrounded himself with those criminals and realized it is not the best solution to the problem, nor is it the only one. It goes into talking about the Catholic church and their viewpoints on the issue. I have never looked at it from a religious point of view and I really like the details and explanations it provides. I plan on using them in my essay.
I have originally been having trouble finding the entire length of most of my articles, so the information was limited. This time I made sure I went back and followed the steps in order to find the full article. This article can definitely help me debate and relate to my other arguments because it talks about not suggesting the idea of life without parole, but actually having that in their justice system as opposed to the death penalty in Connecticut. This goes back to my other article of maybe that would be a good idea to enforce. It was simply only a question issued by the writer, it was not yet an actual idea put into play. This article allows me to support her argument by quoting the governing and showing how it actually is a simple solution and can help cause numerous innocent people from dying due to the death penalty or other faulty factors.
This article affected my thinking process by providing me with information about religion in this huge issue in today's society. This is not only an issue that is so talked about today, but has been an issue over time for many many years. Religion has greatly stated their opinions against this issue and many have changed their original viewpoints in order to agree with the law or new ideas have emerged. This idea was prominent in this article with the Catholic church. They mentioned how the Catholic church supported the death penalty until 1969 when it was abolished in Vatican City. Previously, they have always supported state legislation on the death penalty prior. This goes to show that even religious beliefs can change over time, something that has been written down and taught for generations can be challenged and reset. It led to me to want to think about religion as part of a factor in the death penalty. Maybe do some research on what religions do support it. If there are any, and why? Another alternative viewpoint I did not formulate before this article is the idea that maybe abolishing the death penalty is impossible. Maybe it will always exist even when it doesn't. Just like slavery was abolished it still exists heavily in our world today, or things that are illegal, many find their ways around the system. This article states, "even when the death penalty will have been abolished, when it will have been purely and simply, absolutely and unconditionally, abolished on earth, it will survive; there will still be some death penalty. Let us harbour no illusion on this subject: even when it will have been abolished, the death penalty will survive; it will have other lives in front of it, and other lives to sink its teeth into,” this idea brings to mind a whole new idea and how I view the death penalty currently. It is hard for me to imagine how many people in the world are not completely against this issue. By using these resources it is opening my mind to new ideas and perspectives.
There have been many new ideas about the death penalty that I have stated that I would like to learn more. Does religion play into the death penalty? Is that why people are for or against it? or is it just their own beliefs? I plan on researching other ideas of religion and the death penalty and try and come up with a solution or even disagreeing viewpoints that could potentially be an argument in my essay paper. Also looking at the dates that certain religions, if they have, abolished the death penalty. Was it recently? or a long time ago? How advanced are these religions with the time period or will their opinions never change? Some of these are open ended and I might not be able to find an answer but I would like to research different viewpoints on these issues.
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