Journal #9

Monday we finished cleaning out our kitchen so we can paint the walls and tear up the floor. We cleaned off the tops of the cupboards where we had decorations. I talked my mom into just getting rid of the sunflowers we had up there since they have been there since we moved in. The house looks like its being built now because the carpet was ripped up. My step-dad was tearing up the carpet until 3 in the morning last night so I didn’t get very much sleep. I am excited to get the new floor. I am mostly excited because I can roll the ball on the floor and watch the dogs run and chase it.

Major Writing #2

BreAnna Montoya

July 22, 2014

Mrs. Kamri Goff

Major Writing Assignment #2

            With the topic of Capital Punishment, the topic is very controversial among everyone. Some people are okay with it at all times, some people are against it at all costs and other are okay with it depending on the crime. There was an article from September 2011which follows the execution of a man in Georgia. The article states that a lot of people who were on death row, are being exonerated due to advances in technology and evidence. Most people think the death penalty should be abolished. The article references the ALCU which thinks the death penalty has no place in a civilized country. The article is not saying that opposing the death penalty doesn’t mean that you would deny convicted murders of punishment, it means people think there could be something else that they could do. Based on this article, one could determine the people who were interviewed for this article are opposed to the death penalty.

When people are talking about the opposite side of the forum from opposition to support, the support has increased for capital punishment in the past few years. There is also the issue of the mentally ill and whether or not people support the death penalty for the mentally ill. The death penalty support has increased since 1966, which was when supporters were outnumbered by opponents. In the 1990’s the support was at a record high. Research has determined that most people’s attitudes towards the death penalty are based on emotion rather than information or rational argument. Death penalty support has risen for most of the major felonies. No matter what someone’s stance may be, most still oppose the death penalty for the mentally retarded.

            There is more than just opposing and supporting the death penalty. Some will say it depends on your race as to whether or not you are sentenced to death. There has been little research to investigate this difference. There is data from the 1990 General society survey that states whites supported the punishment as its associated with prejudice against blacks. People are always going to pull the race card when it comes to anything but especially capital punishment.

Sometimes people think the death penalty saves lives, which can be true in the event of serial killers, however sometimes that is not always the case. There has been some recent interest, at this time in 2006, as there were lots of papers written during that time and currently. The article assesses the time series evidence, comparing the homicides and executions in the US and Canada and within the US between executing and non-executing states. It analyzes the judicial experiments, and the execution and homicide rates since 1934.

Sometimes people are not smart enough to think about the consequences of committing their crimes. People will argue that those who commit the crime, are not thinking about the consequences and therefore should not be punished to death. Decades of research shows that criminal behavior responds to incentives, non-economists think that humans are not rational enough to make decisions about benefits engaging in crime. Research should not be driven by personal beliefs. It states that Mocan and Gittings provide evidence that people react to incentives induced by capital punishment. Research found that the deterrent effect of the death penalty show strong feelings which could be due to political, ideological, religious or personal beliefs. The article also states do not mean that capital punishment is good or bad.

There are people out there who talk about the legitimacy of the death penalty, which is a very old argument, it could even be as old as the death penalty. The philosophical and moral arguments, whether they be for or against it, have remain unchanged since the beginning of the debate. There is one issue that has been outstanding is the subject of increased investigation; due to the objective nature and dominant role it has played in shaping the cases against the death penalty.

The history of the death penalty goes as far back as 18^th century BC. The Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes, although murder was not one of them. The first death was recorded in 16^th century BC Egypt where someone was accused of magic and ordered to take his own life. The first recorded execution in English American colonies was 1608 when George Kendall of Virginia was killed for supposedly plotting to betray the British to the Spanish.

There are multiple ways that people used to be executed when the death penalty first became a sentence in 18^th Century BC. The rulers decided how people would be executed like, boiling them in oil, throwing them in snake pits, dragging them under boats, flaying them, poisoning them, burying them alive, drawing and quartering them, etc. The way people are currently executed for the death penalty is less gruesome, the most common is lethal injection. Very few use the gas chamber and the electric chair anymore.

There are pros and cons to every subject out there. The people who are against the death penalty think the death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights. . They think its premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being. 13,000 people have been executed since colonial times. The 1930’s, The Depression Era, saw a historic peak in executions.

There are a lot of different opinions when it comes to the death penalty. Its hard to think of what every single person will think of the death penalty as each person is either for or against the death penalty and they have their own reasons. Someone could be against it because they had a crime committed against them and the crime that was committed against that person could mean the punishment of the death penalty. Then there is the person who had a family member sentenced to death for the crimes they may have committed and they feel like it is wrong to put someone to death for a crime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Cohn, S. E., & Barkan, S. F. (1994). Racial Prejudice and Support for the Death Penalty by Whites. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 202-209.

Davis, N. (2011). Viewpoint: Death penalty should be abolished. Retrieved from WSU Signpost: www.wsusignpost.com/2011/09/22/viewpoint-12-5699#.U7tI8JUg_IU

Donohue, J., & Wolfers, J. J. (2006). The Death Penalty: No Evidence for Deterrence. The Economists Voice.

Ehrlich, I. (1975, June). The Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment: A Question of Life and Death. American Economic Review.

Head, T. (n.d.). Types of Executions. Retrieved from civilliberty.about.com: civilliberty.about.com/od/capitalpunishment/ig/Types-of-Executions

Mocan, N., & Gittings, K. (2010). The Impact of Incentives on Human Behavior: Can we make it disappear? The Case of the death penalty. The Economics of Crime: Lessons for and from Latin America, 379-418.

P.C. Ellsworth, S. G. (1994). Hardening of Attitudes: Americans' Views on the Death Penalty. Journal of Social Issues, 19-52.

Reggio, M. H. (1995-2014). Racial Prejudice and Support for the Death Penalty by Whites. Retrieved from PBS: www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/execution/readings/history.html

White, D. (n.d.). Pros & Cons of the Death Penalty. Retrieved from usliberals.about.com: usliberals.about.com/od/deathpenalty/i/DeathPenalty.htm

Thesis Statement

Capital punishment is good and bad in this world now days because there are people that commit such horrific crimes that deserve to be put to death.

In Class writing 07/23

If I had the time to advocate for something it would be to advocate for better pay for middle class workers. I think middle class workers do not get paid enough to do the job that others don’t want to do. The upper class looks at the jobs they are supposed to do and gives it to the middle class workers because they know that middle class workers will not say no because they need the jobs to pay for their bills and to support their families. The upper class looks at the middle class as the “ants” from A Bugs Life and the ants do all the work while the grasshoppers come in and take credit for everything. The higher ups in the companies will take credit for the ideas that the workers come up with because they want the credit for something even if they didn’t have anything to do with the idea.

To help advocate this, I would talk to the CEO’s and Vice Presidents of the companies and tell them how the workers feel when it comes to appreciation for idea. That the workers do not like to come up with ideas, and have someone else take credit for them because they think that is not fair. I also would let them know that the workers do not feel like they should have to do an assignment that was specifically assigned to someone else above them and that it was assigned to them because that person it was originally assigned to felt like they didn’t have time, or they didn’t want to complete the project.

Journal #8

Work has been really crazy right now. I work at ADP. We mostly do benefits however we still do payroll and other benefits. We are just starting our annual enrollment period again and during that time, it gets really busy, which is fine because the day goes by faster.

Journal #7

The end of the month of August is my birthday. I enjoy my birthday weekend because my mom and I go shopping at Swiss Days in Midway every year. We go on Friday because it’s not as busy, even though there are lots of moms with strollers there. After we go to Swiss Days, we usually go shopping in Park City. This year my mom found another outlet mall she wants to go to down around American Fork. I am excited to go to some new stores. We usually get lunch after we go shopping. Last year we went to City Creek and it was pretty cool. We decided to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. I really like that place.

Journal #6

This weekend has been a crazy one. We are getting new floors installed on the 11^th so this Saturday we cleaned out the living room, kitchen and family room. We started at 8 and it took us until about 11 to finish moving everything out. We had to move the fridge out so we moved the food into a cooler and then moved the food back into the fridge. Once we finished, we went to RC Willey and paid off the floor. While we were there, my mom and I talked my step-dad into buying a new table to match the wood floor. Then we decided to get a new dryer…and a new freezer. All of our stuff is coming on the 16^th. We will not be living like we have no furniture. It was interesting to eat dinner last night without the table. We had to eat on the floor.