The Most Valuable Resource

The resource I found to be the most valuable when doing my research about the Death penalty was the book by Barry Latzer, Death Penalty cases: Leading U.S. Supreme Court cases on Capital Punishment. In this book, there are 22 different death penalty cases explained. Latzer goes inside each case and give the reader the sense that they are right in the court room witnessing the court case. He gives details such as how long the trial took, what took place in the court room and a narrative of exactly what was said by the criminal and the other individuals present in the court room at the time of the case. Each case is clearly laid out in 10-20 pages and each has many opinions on the case not just the authors. Latzer also put where his original information came from and the exact court dates on each chapter's introduction making it easy for the reader to see where the information is from and go there to get the original article and court case if needed.
I was able to find this book through the interlibrary loan office here at the Park Library on campus. This particular book was interlibrary loaned from Michigan State University but this is a common book and could be found at many large universities and law schools.
I learned about a variety of different cases and was able to directly link the court case between Furman v. Georgia (1972) Cruel and Unusual as Applied back to my research and use it in my blog for this class. There was also another case that really intregued me when I was reading because it was a case entitled Murder Defendants Who Did Not Kill which was the case of Enmund v. Florida (1982) and Tison v. Arizonia (1987). In each of these cases the defendants were stating their side of the case but the courts were asking themselves "How blameworthy is the felony-murderer? Were their other aspects playing a role in the case? Did the individual truly deserve the death penalty?" This was something that really hit close with mean as I am someone who likes to look at the big picture before jumping to a conclusion and when I see someone placed on death row when little or no investigation is done it crushes myself and others to see that, that is how our criminal justice system is working today still in some states. They feel the death penalty is the best option and the most utilized option when it come to criminals such as murderers and rapists.

Bibliography

• Podcast - The Supreme Court of California: The Death Penalty and the Appellate Process
  by UCTV: University of California, Berkeley

In this podcast, we are able to listen to the University of California Law students have a debate over the issue of whether of not the death penalty should be abolished.

• Website - The Bureau of Justice Statistics: Capital Punishment Statistics http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cp.htm
  

This is a very valuble websit with many different resources such as statistics about death penalty cases as well as links to find out more about the death penalty in your state.

• Book - The Death Penalty in America: Current Controversies by Hugo Adam Bedau

In this book all of the death penalty cases that have previously taken place are talked about and discussed and issues such as the wrong man on death row or how long an individual can wait for their execution date on death row are all addressed in this book.

• Book - Death Penalty Cases: Leading U.S. Supreme Court Cases on Capital Punishment by Barry Latzer

This book closely related to my topic and was very useful in my research as to the fact that a majority of the cases that were discussed in this book were in favor of my opinion that the death penalty should be abloished in all U.S states.

• Video - The Wrong Man on Death Row by Ray Krone

This is a video of a gentleman who tells his story of being wrongly convicted of raping a young girl. He was incarcerated and mistreated for many years, and had his "normal" life ripped away from him. Even today when he has been set free he still feels as though he has lost so much due to this wrong conviction, his closest friends and family were ripped from him and he will always be looked down upon in today's society.

• Video - Victim to Panel: No to Death Penalty, No to Revenge by Aundre Herron

This is a video of a sister of a man who was murdered a few years ago, who was in strong favor of the death penalty when he brother was first killed but is now fighting to get the murderer off of death row in hopes to save his family from the pain and suffering she has endured since her brothers death. She now realized that the one thing death penalty should be used for is revenge and she will not have it.

YouTube - Victim to Panel: No to Death Penalty, No to Revenge

• This is a video clip of a young woman whose brother was murdered a few years back, she had at first been in favor of the criminal to get the death penalty but after she did some research she realized that all the death penalty would be doing would be riding the criminal of his life but hurting his family just as she and her family had been hurt when her brother was murdered. She acknowledged that life in prison without parole is a much better solution because then the individual can learn from their mistakes rather than just riding them of them, and leaving their family to suffer.
  

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

YouTube - The wrong man on death row

• This is a video of a gentleman who tells his story of being wrongly convicted of raping a young girl. He was incarcerated and mistreated for many years, and had his "normal" life ripped away from him. Even today when he has been set free he still feels as though he has lost so much due to this wrong conviction, his closest friends and family were ripped from him and he will always be looked down upon in todays society.
  

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Non-Internet Resource

The book I chose to use for my non-internet resource was "Death Penalty Cases: Leading U.S. Supreme Court Cases on capital Punishment," by Barry Latzer. In this book 22 of the most popular death penalty cases are explicitly explained in great detail as well as the authors opinion on each case. The part of this book that stood out to me the most was the second chapter entitled "Cruel and Unusual as Applied." In this chapter the case of Furman v. Georgia (1972) is discussed about young men who are accused and convicted of rape and sentenced to death. Justice Douglas states that "the use of such punishment is cruel and unusual when used in this manner." Not only did Justice Douglas feel this way but this feeling seemed to be common amongst the justices. Justice Brennan stated that "punishment was cruel and unusual if it was unusually severe such as death or if there was a strong probability that it was inflicted arbitrarily which most cases were." Many of the cases throughout this book relate closely with the topic I have chosen to research due to the manner of which the death penalty is being used. Innocent people are being wrongly accused and convicted and sentenced to life for a crime they did not commit. I was able to read this book quite quickly due to the interesting cases and facts that it presented. It was slightly hard to read and understand as to the language that was being used is a bit more advanced in the law and justice field, but I was able to understand the broad concepts that were trying to be portrayed. This book caused me to think quite a bit and some questions that came to my mind when reading it were just how many innocent individuals are wrongly put to death each year, and how many if any at all states have recently banned the use of the death penalty in their state? It seems to me that a majority of states are still using the death penalty regularly but still so many are against it and innocent people are dying for no reason still today.

Audio Resource

The audio resource I chose to use for my blog topic was "The Supreme Court of California: The Death Penalty and the Appellate Process" by UCTV: University of California, Berkeley. I found this podcast by going into my itunes library and clicking on the link that says podcasts. Once it brought up a variety of different podcasts I clicked on the link for audio podcasts. I then went up to the top of my itunes screen where there was a blank search toolbar that said"search itunes store," this is where I typed in the topic I was looking for which was Death Penalty. I listened to a variety of different podcasts from a bunch of different authors and found this podcast to be very interesting. It was about an hour long and incorporated many views about the death penalty. Throughout the podcast many different individuals stated their opinions about the death penalty and the majority of speakers seemed to be against the use of the death penalty.

My Counterargument

Although I believe that the death penalty should be abolished in all states, there are many individuals who feel that the death penalty should not be abolished and in the states that do not already use it, they should begin to use it regularly. The opposing side claims that they understand that innocent victims are being wrongly put to death but they claim that criminals that are truly committing these horrible crimes such as murder or rape, are now getting to walk around along with the innocent putting our families at risk. The criminals have to opportunity to do their time in a prison but still have a possibilty of parole, and why would we want true criminals to be able to roam the streets when they are most likely out on good behavior. Criminals learn how to work the system and will talk with other criminals to see just what they need to do to get their parole approved when the time comes. All they learned is how to manipulate people and will be back on the streets again soon to commit the same or worse crimes that they had committed to get them years in prison. By allowing all states to incorporate the death penalty we are getting rid of the possibility of criminals striking twice and having the opportunity to hurt more individuals and their families.

My Position

In today's society there are many different views on whether or not states should still incorporate the death penalty into their criminal justice system. I strongly believe that the death penalty should be abolished in all of the states that still use it in their criminal justice system. There are many different scenarios for criminal cases and how is the state teaching the criminals anything by committing one of most severe crimes of all...murder! Statistics have proven that each year innocent victims are charged with a crime they did not commit and put to death. It is unreal to me that the criminal justice system could be so unaware of these wrong acts that are being committed and even when the innocent have been proven innocent still proceed with killing another human being for a selfless act of crime. Life in prison would suffice and also by allowing the criminals, murders, rapists, etc. to spend their lives in prison we are giving them a chance to learn from their mistakes and hopefully do right in this world. One selfless act may have a huge impact on a family but that individual is only human and deserves the right to try and make amends and change his/her ways before they are put to death. I realize a serious crime has been committed and so does the criminal but by putting them to death we are causing that individual and their families just as much grief as the victims family had to endure. Murder is murder no matter who commits it or how it is done.

BLOG TOPIC

Should the Death Penalty be abolished in all states?