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Why David Lat's Essay Executions Should Be Televised

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KILL THEM. And Let Us Watch. In the essay “Executions Should Be Televised” Zachary Shemtob and David Lat argue that executions should be made public. They claim that while most executions are made to be painless, some may cause “unnecessary suffering”. This essay invokes a strong appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos leading the reader to really think about whether or not public executions are acceptable. Which they should be(actually, I am on the fence). Firstly, let us go over what exactly happens during a lethal injection. A lethal injection is the practice of injecting a fatal dose of drugs into a person. Lethal injection mixes three drugs: Sodium Thiopental, Pavulon, and Potassium Chloride. Sodium Thiopental is injected first. This drug is a barbiturate used to render the prisoner unconscious. Pavulon is the next drug administered, a muscle …show more content…

Since doctors aren’t present due to the hippocratic oath, prison staff carry out the execution and administration of anesthetics can be risky to say the least. The possibility that the first drug, sodium thiopental, being administered improperly is very real. Then, because of the second drug, the prison officers and witnesses would be unaware that not only is the prisoner conscious, but being tortured horribly. Feeling the effects of both the second and third drugs simultaneously. lastly, the potassium chloride creates extreme burning throughout the body. The prisoner can not scream, speak, or move as it takes effects, prisoner would be able to feel everything until the body succumbs, and the heart finally stops. The authors of the essay explain the way Georgia inmate, Roy Blankeship “gasped, grimaced, lurched, and jerked his head” when the injection was administered. This is evidence enough to support that execution can be painful. That might lead one to question whether executions are ethical or

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Execution is the act of carrying out of a sentence of death on a condemned person. This is carried out either by lethal injection or electrocution. Execution despite its barbaric nature has survived in many legal system and will continue to because it: reinforces a state of security of the general public, detters other individuals from committing such crimes, and enforces the concept of cause and effect within the legal system. In the text “The Penalty of Death” H.L. Mencken discusses not only why he supports executions, but also the ripple effects this action has on a society. While in a text entitled “Death Penalty,” Anna Quindlen discusses her objections to execution, because, as she states:”it consists of stooping to the level of the

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These methods were grisly and inhumane. Prisoners sometimes took up to twenty minutes to die. Some had to be electrocuted several times while screaming in agony. In 1977 Dr. Deutsch created a method of execution involving several different kinds of drugs to humanely induce death. Officials liked this method of execution as it medicalized the process and was easier to witness.

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Zachary Shemtob, a teacher of criminal justice at Central Connecticut State University, and David Lat, a former federal prosecutor, in their essay “Executions Should Be Televised” (2011), discourse the issue whether the criminal execution process should be videotaped and televised or to be privately disclosed among the press and selected witnesses, in which both Shemtob and Lat affirm to broadcasting. Shemtob and Lat construct their claim by defining the transparency that arises when the public is notified of executions through the media and analysing concerns that may arise from misguided illustrations of broadcasting executions, such as relating them to a pet euthanization or obtaining a sympathetic feeling towards the executed felon who

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Columnist for The Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby, in is argumentative article,”Bring back flogging,” questions the American justice system and suggests to bring back flogging. Jacoby’s purpose is to persuade his opponents and inform the reader of the problems with imprisonment and the benefits of flogging. He adopts a respectful tone in order to convey the importance of changing our one-sided justice system. In the eyes of a skeptical reader, Jeff Jacoby is very effective in persuading his argument. The first thing to notice is his title, ”Bring back flogging” that clearly states what he is persuading his readers to feel.

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" Shemtob and Lat strongly agree that executions in the United States ought to be made public. Also, they argued that reading about an execution and watching an execution has a big difference. Also, public executions declare a message to the audience. I disagree with Zachary Shemtob and

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The lethal injection executions illustrates a constitutional violation of the branch 's overreach as described by the 8th amendment due to its cases bring either successful in the execution or providing sufferable pain to death row inmates. One of the current problems in the Judicial branch is the use of lethal injection towards execution sessions. Lethal injection is an injection that is administered for the purpose of euthanasia and capital punishment. There are two methods of lethal injection today, one using a three drug protocol and the 2nd being the large dose of barbiturate. Lethal injection is used for capital punishment as it follows the 8th amendment we have today.

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The prisoners had seen and experienced so much brutality, endured repeated beatings, and humiliated beyond imagination, so one more death did not affect them. Their emotions hardened to the point of being non-existent… or so they thought. Although the prisoners seemed hardened and unaffected by death, a different hanging did deeply affect them.

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Many have strong opinions on this topic because of safety concerns and reasons. Although the authors are using the Rogerian method to persuade you and help you understand their point of view. Shemtob and Lat’s essay on executions being televised was very persuading and effective based on their great use of Rogerian writing style. As a matter of fact, the authors used the Rogerian method in their thesis.

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Should society have the right to view any execution at anytime? In the essay “Executions Should Be Televised” written by Zachary Shemtob and David Lat respectfully claim executions need to be publicly released to all U.S citizens. By using experts in law to give their opinion on the topic try to defend the reasons for their argument. The authors do not provide enough information about the opposition to counter argue an effective debate. Instead, killing criminals on live television will be as humiliating and emotional as putting a pet to sleep.

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“The case for torture” happens to be a notable work of Michael Levin, a philosophy professor of City University of New York. In many of his works, Levin has emphasized on philosophical aspects associated with science, logic and language. In the essay “The case for torture” the author tried to examine various circumstances to come to a conclusion that would indicate whether torture can be perceived as “just” in certain cases. In this essay, the author suggested that it is not quite black and white to determine if torture is right and wrong.

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But no great reformation occurred until 1833. Those who witnessed public executions either reveled in the excitement of the event, or violently rioted in its aftereffects. There were some repulsive executions that led to abolition, such as “In 1853, Wisconsin abolished the death penalty after a gruesome execution in which the victim struggled for five minutes at the end of the rope, and a full eighteen minutes passed before his heart finally quit” (Reggio). In 1930, Eva Dugan was the first female to be executed in Arizona, and her “execution was botched when the hangman misjudged the drop and Mrs. Dugan's head was ripped from her body” (Reggio). But success against capital punishment didn’t see much of any fruition until 1972, when the Supreme Court declared it cruel and unusual in Furman v. Georgia, based on ‘discriminatory sentencing guidelines.’

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But we are bringing our own self righteous justice on these people Only issue is, how against killing society is today, I mean we are so against it we are willing to kill someone who kills. So maybe we put this as a pay-per view type of channel and have them pay to see all the action and the prisoners surviving. I mean they did something wrong themselves, to be publicly executed on television has worked for so many country's we are totally supporting.

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Rhetorical Analysis of “A Hanging” In his personal narrative, “A Hanging”, George Orwell, a renowned British author, who often used his talents to criticize injustice and totalitarianism, describes an execution he witnessed in Burma while serving as an officer in the British Imperial Police. Originally published in The Adelphi, a British magazine, in 1931, the piece was written for educated, politically aware people in England, in hopes of provoking questions regarding the morality of capital punishment, and perhaps imperialist society overall, in those benefitting from such a system. Although he died nearly seventy years ago, his works are still influential and relevant today. Using vivid descriptions and a somber tone, Orwell recreates his experience in a tense narration that clearly shows his thesis concerning the value of human life and the wrongness inherent to a system that dismisses it so casually.

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The execution in May 1989 involving Stephen McCoy is one in several examples of these defective results. According to witnesses, McCoy reacted violently to the lethal injection given to him. According to the Flawed Executions, the Anti-Death Penalty Movement, and the Politics of Capital Punishment article, “after the drug was administered McCoy was seen gagging, violently coughing, and undergoing body contortions” (Haines). Examples such as these show that the systems that has been put in place, and the methods used in order to afflict capital punishment has some defects. Morally speaking, one cannot consider to willingly and with a clear conscious sentence an individual to a punishment that completely fraudulent and unethical.

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Since the beginning of time the old saying of "Ye have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth" (The Holy Bible) shows that capital punishment of execution as taught in the book of scriptures was polished thusly. Mencken expressed that uplifters contend on two most regular contentions that the occupation of an executioner and the witness is horrible business and revolting and that being sentenced to death is presently pointless, for it doesn't prevent others from the same wrongdoing (Phillips and Bostian, 524). Both of these two contentions have some legitimacy inside of the article which has both qualities and shortcomings that will be examined and displayed in

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