In the essay "Death and Justice" written by Edward I. Koch he argues in favor of the death penalty. Edward has served the public for 22 years with many accolades and titles. He was a district leader, councilman, congressman, and mayor among others. He argues many aspects that are brought into play when discussing capital punishment. I feel that with his years of experience and the particular positions he has held that he has excellent explanation for his feelings. All of those reasons are illustrated quite well in this essay. He broke down different aspects into seven categories. .
First of these categories listed was: The death penalty is "barbaric". We may not like the death penalty, but it must be available to punish crimes of cold-blooded murder, cases in which any other form of punishment would be inadequate and, therefore, unjust. If we create a society in which injustice is not tolerated, incidents of murder - the most flagrant form of injustice - will diminish, argues Koch. .
Secondly, he states, no other major democracy uses the death penalty. In this paragraph Koch shows, a study at M.I.T., based on 1970 homicide rates a person more likely to murdered in America than killed in combat in World War II. His next category is: An innocent person might be executed by mistake. Years ago this may have occurred often, however with the advancements of DNA technology we presently have in the U.S. this is far more unlikely.
Capital punishment cheapens the value of human life, Koch declares in his next argument. When we lower the penalty for murder, it signals a lessened regard for the value of the victim's life, says Koch. In his next paragraph the issue is: The death penalty is applied in a discriminatory manner. Koch argues, justice requires that the law be applied equally to all.
Koch also brings the bible into this essay. Thou shalt not kill. He reminds that the Bible is our greatest source of inspiration.
