To do this I must use my existing knowledge of claim, types of evidence, credibility and vocabulary and apply test taking strategies.
I will demonstrate this by completing the multiple choice questions and the analysis essay.
Here is the article that corresponds to the test. Hint: remember the sentence frames when you go to write the essay.
No on Prop. 34: Let
the death penalty live
A former prosecutor
and judge argues in favor of California's capital punishment law, saying it is
a deterrent and the right moral choice.
October 28, 2012|By
James A. Ardaiz
My entire professional life has been entwined with the death
penalty. As a prosecutor, I asked for the death penalty. As a judge, I imposed
it. As a citizen, I will vote next month to retain it as a punishment option in
California.
I have often encountered the argument that the death penalty
is not a deterrent[1]
because it did not deter someone from carrying out a particular murder. But the
actual issue is a larger one: Would there have been more murders in California
without its deterrent effect? That's a hard question to answer with certainty,
of course, but there has been considerable research to suggest the death
penalty is a significant deterrent.
Additionally, I am all too aware of one case in which the
death penalty, imposed in a timely fashion, might have prevented additional
killings.
Clarence Ray Allen was the last man to be put to death in
California before a moratorium[2]
on executions in the state was issued in 2006. His first murder conviction came
in 1977 for arranging the 1974 killing of a potential witness against him in a
burglary. I was the prosecutor on that case. We won a conviction, and Allen was
sentenced to life in prison. Then, in 1980, while behind bars, Allen arranged
the killings of witnesses who had testified against him in his murder trial.
That was the last case I worked on as a prosecutor before I was elected as a
judge. In that case, he was finally sentenced to death, but even then it wasn't
until 26 years after the killing that he was finally executed. During all that
time, the loved ones of the deceased had no closure. Retribution[3]
is not only a need of society; it is a right of those victimized.
Our system is not infallible. Opponents say the fact that
it's possible that someone could be wrongfully executed is enough to conclude
we shouldn't have the death penalty. They can't, however, point to a case in
California in which the system has allowed an innocent person to be executed.
Every criminal conviction should be based on the highest
degree of certainty, and we should certainly shore up weaknesses in the system.
No one should be convicted, for example, by eyewitness and informant testimony
that is not substantiated (proven) by independent evidence. But eliminating the
death penalty does nothing to address these issues.
A number of independent studies have reached the conclusion
that the existence and imposition of the death penalty results in a
statistically demonstrable reduction in murders. And that means human beings
are alive today instead of dead as a result of a law.
We have no way of knowing for certain, of course, how many
people are not murdered because of the existence of the death penalty, and
there have been studies that concluded the death penalty had no deterrent
effect, but I don't find them convincing. Why? In part because of what I saw
over a long career. In cases of premeditated murder, considerable planning
often goes into the act, and that planning can include the weighing of what is
to be gained against the potential penalties. Any penalty can have some
deterrent effect, but the more severe the penalty, the greater the disincentive
to commit the crime.
If you knew that by executing one guilty person you could
save even one or two innocent people from being murdered, the moral choice
seems clear. Those who criticize aggressive sentencing laws often ignore the
most important moral issue. If we can, through effective sentencing, reduce
victimization, then it seems to me we are morally obligated to impose sentences
that have that effect.
I respect those who have moral reservations about the death
penalty. But moral choices can carry consequences too. If the death penalty has
prevented some people from being murder victims, then doing away with it would
create additional murder victims. I would far rather face the moral consequence
of the death penalty than the consequence of innocent victims being killed. I
choose innocent lives over guilty lives.
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