FREE ESSAY ON "DEATH AND JUSTICE: HOW CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AFFIRMS LIFE," BY EDWARD I. KOCH

"DEATH AND JUSTICE: HOW CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AFFIRMS LIFE," BY EDWARD I. KOCH

The Affirmation of Life
The essay "Death and Justice: How Capital Punishment Affirms Life," by Edward I. Koch, is
a rather conservative outlook of the death penalty from a member of the Democratic Party.
It first appeared in The New Republic, a magazine that is known for its controversial
articles. In the essay, Koch effectively argues the fact that capital punishment is not
only a deterrent for crime, but also affirms the sanctity of life. 
Since this essay was found in The New Republic, Koch most likely wrote this essay to high
society, politically minded people that were deciding if they should support the death
penalty or not. Koch also wrote this to people that supported the death penalty but
weren't exactly sure how to convince others of it. That's why Koch gives the possible
arguments against capital punishment and then a detailed counter argument for capital
punishment. 
Koch organizes his essay well. He begins by telling the readers about the execution of
Robert Lee Willie. Robert Lee Willie told his executioners that they were no better than
he, if they continued the execution. Koch goes on to state that Robert Lee Willie only
then understood the sanctity of life. Then the author placed his thesis on the third
paragraph because he wanted to first show the reader that when faced with death, even the
criminals see the sanctity of life. Then Koch states in his thesis that life is 
indeed precious, and that even after examining the arguments of his opponents, he still
supports the death penalty.
Koch continues by stating each common argument, then answering them in detail by using
sub-arguments, summaries of research, and testimonies for factual evidences. In the
sub-arguments he plays on the reader's logic. For example, when Koch was stating that
capital punishment strengthens the value of human life, he insisted that if you lower the
penalty for rape, that it would be a clear signal that you lessen the regard for the
victim's suffering and humiliation, and applies the same logic for murder. This
statement, and others like it, where written to cause the reader to agree with him simply
because logic dictates it.
Other effective arguments in this essay are summaries of research. Numerous times Koch
states political and religious sources and even sourced the greatest thinkers of our
time. For example, the author states that the political leaders Washington, Jefferson,
and Franklin endorsed the death penalty, and even Lincoln executed deserters in the civil
war. Koch notes that the greatest thinkers, Kant, Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Montesquieu,
and Mill, agreed that "natural law properly authorizes the sovereign to take life in
order the vindicate justice.(Koch, 342)" Koch covers every aspect of human culture with
these examples. The author aligned himself with religion, logic, morality and the
greatest national leaders of this country, and the greatest thinkers of all time; it
would be almost foolish to contradict these arguments. 
The author relates stories of the people that died by the hand of a murderer and about
the murderers themselves. Koch uses the example of Rosa Velez, who was murdered when her
home was burglarized by Luis Vera. Why did he kill her? Because he knew that he wasn't
going to face the consequences. If he knew the penalty was his own life, Rosa's life may
have been spared. He uses this story because it is a down to earth example of how the
death penalty might have turned a situation for the better.
Another story used by Koch was of Lemuel Smith. While serving a life sentence in prison
for kidnapping, robbery, and murder, Smith lured a female corrections officer into the
chaplain's office, killed her, then mutilated her body. Koch made the point that a man's
punishment can't get any worse serving a life sentence. Prison does not rehabilitate the
prisoner
The tone of the essay was appropriate for the topic. The author was not simply trying to
be argumentative, even though Koch did have the style of an argument. Koch was logical,
straightforward, and to the point. Most of his arguments were fact or dealt with
extremely easy logic. The essay had a logical order, so it was easy to read and made
perfect sense to those reading it.
Koch used logic, emotions, and morality to appeal to his audiences. He plays on your
emotions by stating horrific crimes that were not punishable by simply serving time in
prison. He then uses logic by saying that the only way to stop these crimes from
reoccurrence, is to stop the criminal or make the punishment so extreme that they think
twice before doing it in the first place. Koch also reflected on the morality of the
death penalty. He stated that even though the death penalty seemed to be wrong because it
is a 
state sanctioned murder, it wasn't murder. The state has the powers to dispense justice.
An example that Koch used is taxation. If someone tries to force someone else to give
them money, under the pretence that they would be punished, it is extortion. If the state
does that, its taxation.
Koch not only effectively argues that life is precious and capital punishment defends the
sanctity of life, but also the fact that the greatest minds of the world and greatest
political leaders of our time endorsed it. The author proves that capital punishment is a
necessity to stop the murders, though even the death of a murderer is tragic. 
Bibliography
Koch, Edward. "Death and Justice: How Capital Punishment Affirms Life." The Allyn and
Bacon Guide to Writing. Needham Heights: Allyn & Bacon, 2000