The issue of whether capital punishment should be used in
the U.S has stirred up countless hours of chatter in courts, classrooms, and
churches. No alliteration intended in the previous sentence but there is a
pattern I’d like to point out that is present throughout this blog discussion:
most of the arguing about lethal injection and capital punishment isn’t over the
morality of it – it’s about the cost
of the death penalty.
Most people on death row want to avoid their death bed,
literally. Who can blame them, there are countless stories of injections gone
wrong where the convict suffers for up to 15 minutes or instances where it
takes hours for the injection to actually kill the individual. Most cases do go
without flaw, nonetheless, the process may result to be traumatic to all parties
involved – the executed, the staff administrating the injection, and also the execution
witnesses. Execution witnesses can be journalist, volunteers, or family of the
victims. The previously mentioned group, family members of victims, have a
variety of opinions on the subject of lethal injection. Some of these
stakeholders may protest for the convict to be killed while others would rather
the individual just spend time in prison. Another stakeholder that I think is undermined
is the staff who administers the injection. The American Medical Association (AMA)
argues that requiring physicians to participate in executions violates their
oath to protect lives and erodes public confidence in the medical profession.
Doctors are supposed to save lives not take them.
Finally, the biggest stakeholder of all, us – citizens of
the states. In California, home to the nation's biggest death row population at
667, it costs an extra $90,000 per inmate to imprison someone sentenced to
death — an additional expense that totals more than $63.3 million annually. Do
tax payers really like the fact that $63.3 million are going to criminals
instead of the school system which is taking heavy cuts due to the recent
economic hardships. Many states are working on legislature to just eradicate
capital punishment with the sole argument that it costs too much. But if
convicted killers get life imprisonment instead of death, is that letting them
off easy? Not necessarily – 52 year old Gordon "Randy" Steidl lived
on death row and then in the general prison population, after his sentence was
commuted to life. He says that he prefers his former accommodations to living
in gen-pop.
Source:
http://utdeathpenalty.wordpress.com/
I like the argument and the many different ways you can use to debate this topic. I think that emphasizing that the money used on lethal injections and prisons is taking away from the money available to invest in education and the citizens who have not done anything wrong. I would find the statistics of the cost to keep a prisoner alive for their life vs. the costs of sentencing them to the death penalty. The reason why it is so expensive is because it goes through multiple trials and hearings and a lot of trouble. Overall good stakeholder's map.
ReplyDeleteBy focusing on the amount of money used in these executions, you are allowing yourself to analyze a more specific category of stakeholders; rather than acknowledging all the stakeholders invested in the ethics of executions as well. I thought your stakeholders map was so much more precise than mine would have been. It was easy to clear and easy to understand. You mentioned schools and the lack of funding due to the money spent on lethal executions. Perhaps you should further analyze the stakeholders within these already created categories. You could specify the group of citizens to students feeling as though they aren't reaching their full potential in the classes they are given or teachers with inadequate salaries. You could also write about school districts having to cut back their funding in the state category.
ReplyDeleteIn a modern conflict such as capital punishment, there are incredible amounts of multi-dimensional assessments and theories offered by the stakeholders both directly involved, and those who are observant on the matter. You did a great job of capturing that multi-dimensional outlook by taking into at least four of the offered positions on the death penalty and its victims. When looking at these varied opinions and reasoning for the spread perspectives, it is virtually impossible to accurately state which one is more beneficial for society. One of the reasons I like your map so much is because of its likeness to a political spectrum. There are different viewpoints but holders in each, constantly battling over one another and for that we can't say which one is in fact the correct way of going about the issue. That being said I am a supporter of the death penalty if it is executed within reasonable economic bounds, regarding tax payer dollars.
ReplyDeleteDavid, I agreed with all of the points that you brought up in discussion of the article. By looking at the stakeholders and analyzing what positions groups of people had on the topic, you were able to give out specific statistics to further your point. I like how you used real numbers to show how expensive the death penalty actually costs, and in just one state alone. It appeals to logos and ethos by giving out statistics while, at the same time, making people question if the money being spent on the death penalty is where it should be being spent. The stakeholders map you created looks pretty thourough and thoughtout.
ReplyDeleteIncluding the citizens and state government is important and its good that you branched out to the people who are not directly involved in the situation. Your stakeholders map is pretty detailed and includes some statistics, and also easy to read. It gives a fairly thorough preview to the reader of the information you'll be covering later on. It's interesting that you take this debate in a different direction, because most people concentrate solely on the issue of whether or not lethal injection is a humane method. My only suggestion is that you may want to elaborate on the statement about mistakes being made in the "Convicts" section.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you have a really strong opinion on your topic, which will make writing our first paper much easier. I really liked how in-depth you went when discussing the reasoning behind each stakeholder. Although I don’t have an extremely strong standing on this topic, I do agree with all of your stakeholders. I think cost is definitely an important when discussing lethal injection. You also mentioned in your “Family of Victims” square that life in prison isn’t a big enough punishment and that some families want more justice than that, which I also agree with. Overall, I think your map was very well-constructed and you made many great points.
ReplyDeleteI am doing my essay on lethal injection as well. It is great that you are including all these stakeholder's opinions, but while looking at your map it looks as if only the opinions you listed fall under the against standpoint for lethal injections. I would try and find more stakeholder's that are for it because you will want to counter the arguments presented in the essay to sound more credible. Other than that, good job!
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you've arranged his stakeholder map. It's very visually inviting but I can't help but question the validity of some of the statistics behind some of the stakeholder's reasoning. 63.3 million dollars is a hell of a lot of money and I know I'm not an expert on criminal justice funding but that amount of money seems quite a bit extreme. I could be wrong but you may want to check out the accuracy of that statement or reword it to make it more clear.
ReplyDeleteYou were very in depth on the costs of lethal injections and death row inmates. Using California as an example helps one really see where our taxes are going to, and it adds another side to the topic. You went in depth with the stake holders, and shared both sides of the argument so that you were not biased. You have a few stake holders who are against lethal injection - doctors and family - and you should try to find a few more that are for lethal injection.
ReplyDeleteFrom reading your argument, you seem to be very passionate about your viewpoint on lethal injection and the death penalty. Your map gave some very well-detailed reasoning with the information you provided, and your arguments were strong and well-supported. I like that you provided some real life figures to emphasize the stakeholders' positions. One suggestion I would like to give on your stakeholders map, would be to label each stakeholder as either pro-lethal injection, or as against lethal injection. Otherwise, the map was well organized, easily understandable, and overall well-done.
ReplyDeleteYour map shows the major groups of the issue of lethal injection in a pretty clear, straightforward manner. One thing that can be improved is clearly showing which groups are on which side. Additionally, you could consider showing which points support and don't support a given side of an argument. For example, for the "Families of Victims" group, the first point, "Lack of closure" could be an argument as to why families of victims would not support the death penalty, since the death penalty is a long process, and the families would not receive closure right away. The second point does show why they support the death penalty. Therefore you should separate the points and possibly sort them by supporting/against. Otherwise, your map has pretty strong and clear arguments. Additionally, it seems to identify all of the stakeholders in the argument of the death penalty. These 2 aspects coupled together will help you write an effective essay.
ReplyDeleteFor an example, you can check out my map, which shows how I set it up to show who's on which side of the argument:
http://i.imgur.com/GGNIXwE.png
I think you did a great job with your Map. I like the way you divided it up and organized it. The fact that you went into a lot of detail for each stakeholder I think will be very beneficial when it comes time to write the essay and have something to support your argument with. The only suggestion I would have is to maybe add one or two more stakeholders but other than that your map was really well done!
ReplyDeletehttp://i.imgur.com/ZNCnEE8.jpg