Read the article at this link.
The death penalty has long been a point of contention in American discourse. Many people who support the death penalty cite the guilty person's lack of respect for life as proof that the person deserves to die. Others deny the claim that pro-death penalty advocate make by asserting that the death of one innocent person is reason enough to avoid giving anyone the power of life and death over another.
The question becomes a question of purpose. If we believe that the penal system is intended to correct people (hence, the Department of Corrections), can we support a penalty that denies people the right to change? Should the death penalty exist if even one innocent man or woman can be killed in error?
Most stories about innocent people being killed on death row are apocryphal at best, but the article "Trial by Fire" discusses a potential case of mistaken execution.
So, read the article and respond to the author's assertion. Defend, challenge, or qualify the author's assertion in an organized and well-reasoned response.
Happy Thinking,
Mr. B
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I believe that Daniel Grann is correct in asserting that if one person is put to death falsely by the death penalty then there should be no death penalty. Think about it why would Cameron Todd Willingham want to kill his three children. While the fire was happening even he wanted to save them and was very distressed over the situation. But say this was not Cameron but a real muderer who killed six people in the same small town in texas. Like Cameron he has fallen on tough times and cannot take it anymore. Instead of killing himself he kills other people so that he may recieve the death penalty. That would just be playing into the criminals hands. What should happen is he recieves a lifetime sentance and is counseled on what he did was wrong so that he maybe corrected and possibly recoeve parole so that he may become a functioning member of society. The same goes for Cameron Todd Willingham. If he just received a life sentence with the possiblity for parole they would have never murdered an innocent man.
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