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Citation: Rein, Mei Ling. //Capital Punishment Cruel and Unusual?// Farmington Hills: Gale Group, 2002. Print. Author’s credentials: The author of this source Mei Ling Rein has written numerous books on both capital punishment and child abuse that are scholarly. She specifies on capital punishment and child abuse and is well informed about both topics, making her credited to write books on them. Scope and purpose of the work: The purpose of her work is to give in depth information on capital punishment and the viewpoints of those who oppose it and those who think it should be maintained. Intended audience: The intended audience is for a lay person who is looking for a better understanding on capital punishment, particularly high school students.
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__Summary:__ Identify the author’s thesis: The author’s thesis deals with everything involved in capital punishment and how cruel and unusual capital punishment is. The author takes the side of capital punishment being cruel, but also includes information about others views on capital punishment. What are the main arguments? The author’s main arguments include a history of capital punishment in America, legal decisions involved in capital punishment (impact on victims and methods of execution), death penalty statutes and methods, statistics on executions, public attitudes, capital punishment around the world, and the debate on capital punishment being maintained vs. it being abolished. __Evidence?__ The author gives stats on the number of people under death from between 1953 and 1999, showing that it increased drastically. They also give states on the methods of execution states use and how many executions there were from between 1977-1999. They also gave stats on how many people were sentenced to death in 1999 and gave their race, gender, education, and marital status. __Evaluation__ Evaluation of research: The work is logical, clear, and well-researched. The author of the book is well qualified and knows what they are talking about when it comes to capital punishment. They did their research on the stats and gave many different stats regarding the death penalty. Evaluation of scope: The topic of the article has been well addressed it provides detailed information about capital punishment and everything involved with it. It is easy for an average person to comprehend and take in what is being said. Evaluation of author bias: The author is motivated to argue that capital punishment is cruel and unusual to a certain point, but on the whole they do a good job of relaying facts about both sides and giving straight forward information on what others think and how it is viewed by society as a whole. __ Reflection __ This source is very helpful to my research. It contains almost all the aspects of capital punishment which I want to incorporate in my project and helps to answer all my research questions as well has support my thesis. It gives information on who receives the death penalty and gives what race, gender they are as well as their education level. Gives the views of society as a whole and some individual views on capital punishment and why the people think the way they do. Overall it gave me a better understanding on capital punishment and so much more that will help me complete my project. || Citation: Bedau, Hugo, and Paul Cassell, eds. //Debating the death penalty: should America// //have capital punishment? : the experts on both sides make their case//. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. //Google eBook//. Web. 4 May 2011. . Author’s credentials: While there is not one single author, since it is composed of eight essays, the editors of the book are well qualified. Bedau is a professor in philosophy and emeritus at Tufts University. He gained his PhD from Harvard University in 1961 and has taught at Dartmouth College, Princeton University, and Reed College before Tufts University. He is known as a leading anti-death-penalty scholar. Cassell is a U.S. district court judge in Utah. He received his B.A. from Stanford University in 1979 and later received a J.D. from Stanford University Law School in 1984. Scope and purpose of the work: This work gives a report that deals with judges, lawyers, prosecutors, and philosophers views on the death penalty and why they are for it or why they are not for it. They also address the details that go along with the death penalty and their own opinions from dealing with it firsthand. Intended audience: The intended audience of this piece includes both experts in the fields and the average lay person. Experts in the field can see what other experts think and their reasons behind what they believe. The average person can comprehend the work enough and get a better understanding on the topic. __Summary__ Identify the author’s thesis: The creators thesis deals with how experts in the field view the death penalty and what they believe about all aspects of the death penalty. What are the author’s main arguments?: The main arguments of the book include tinkering with death, an abolitionists survey on the death penalty in America today, why the death penalty is morally permissible, reflections on race and capital punishment in America, the truth and consequences of the death penalty, why the United States will join the rest of the world in ceasing the use of the death penalty, and a defense against the death penalty. __Evidence__ Evidence that is provided includes eight essays written by experts in the field. Two are from judges, two from professors of philosophy, and three from attorneys. One of the essays includes a story about the author thinking about an execution that had been set and it driving him crazy, it was all he could think about. It is about the impact sentencing someone to death has on those involved with the sentence. For death row in Illinois, the criminal justice system upheld imposition of the death penalty for 17 exonerated inmates, yet when real killers were charged prosecutors usually seek a punishment less than death. There are the views of those who defend it and those who detest the death penalty and think America should join in with the rest of the world in abolishing it. __Evaluation__ Evaluation of research: The work is logical, clear, and well-researched. It is an accumulation of many viewpoints. The viewpoints are all backed up with statistics and include many details. It is clear that the experts know what they are talking about and they have done their research. Evaluation of scope: The topic has definitely been adequately addressed. It stays on topic with the death penalty and presents both sides of the death penalty in a sophisticated way. It is the views of experts who deal with the death penalty firsthand, which gives the reader more insight to what the death penalty is all about. Evaluation of author bias: The overall book is not biased toward one side, but each section written by different people is biased toward their argument. For example in the section about a defense against the death penalty, those who wrote it are biased toward the death penalty having a reason to exist. The sections about the death penalty being wrong are biased toward the death penalty needing to end. The whole novel also has the bias of experts in the field and their views on the death penalty, not the views of everyone in the United States. __Reflection__ This source is very helpful to my research. It gives all views of the death penalty and even has a section focusing on the issues of race and capital punishment. Not only does it give the views of experts who think it is wrong and those who defend it, but it goes further into the death penalty and fully support the claims made by the experts. This source gave me an insight into what those who deal with the death penalty think of it, ultimately giving me a different perspective, which was that of an insiders perspective. ||
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