WRITING TASKS

Which of these last words made most of an impression on you? Why? What do you think this person was feeling at that moment

“I wish I could die more than once to tell you how sorry I am” are the last words that made most of an impression on me, because I think that the fact that the person wants to “punish” himself more than once for the think he did, is a sign for regret and mashed up feelings. I think that it must be hard to know that you are going to die within a few minutes after saying those words, and I think that the fact that he chose to use the lasts words in his life to say those words is a sign that this was very important for him.        

Death penalty – pros and cons. Make a list. Are you for or against the death penalty, personally?
Pros:
Criminals are taken away from the society
The government/ country doesn’t have to use resources on taking care of criminals
Cons:
You can never be sure that the prisoner really is the perpetrator. There are many examples for the wrong man got killed.
For some criminals, the death penalty is no punishment, but rather a release from it.
Death isn’t always the right alternative. There are several cases where other kinds of punishment have been useful too.   

What is another word (synonym) used in the text for the death penalty?

Capital punishment, is another word for death penalty.  

How many states in the US have a law permitting the death penalty and what percentage of the total number of US states does this represent?

Thirty-five states have a law permitting capital punishment, but it’s only practices in approximately half of them.   

Which method is used as the primary form of execution?

Lethal injection is the primary form of execution practiced by the most of the states.

What are some of the arguments mentioned that support capital punishment?

The eye for an eye from the Bible – Many people demands death penalty, to get a kind of revenge for their loss, and that is carried out in the way that the person who killed, gets killed.

Death penalty deters crime. That’s because no one/ very few would commit a capital offence, if they knew that they would be put to death (although statistics shows the opposite).

Capital punishment keeps offenders from returning to society and committing new crimes

It’s cheaper to use death penalty, because keeping criminals in prison is expensive

What are the arguments expressing opposition?

Innocent inmates can be executed, before they’ve got the chance to prove their innocence

it is “harsh and unusual” punishment and therefore against the eight changes in the Constitution

Why are many of the prisoners on death row black?

The reason for the fact that there are many black people in the death row, is their poor economic state. They cannot hire a good lawyer, and they may also face prejudiced juries.