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Post by LandonC on Feb 25, 2004 23:15:03 GMT -6
hello
hi i am a freshman in high school and my final debate is this friday feb. 27. the resolved is : that iowa reinstate the death penalty. i am for the death penalty. i still need some help with my debate. i was wondering if any of you could give me advice on the money part of the debate and the innocent execution part of the debate. i don't yet have combacks for those so please please help me. im not good at debating. email at gottatakeashizza@hotmail.com thank you so much, please email before friday. i am in midwest timezone if that makes a difference to you. lol. thank you again.
landon
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Post by cosmos on Apr 2, 2004 7:28:05 GMT -6
You might try this,
yes, it is true that there is a risk of executing innocent people. And it has happened before. Sacco and Vanzetti were probably innocent. So was Ethel Rosenberg. These incidences are tragic indeed. However there are also as we speak a handful people wrongfully convicted of crimes and sent to prison. Should we abolish imprisonment because there is a risk putting an innocent person in jail? Not at all! The fact that an innocent person could be convicted and punished isn't a fault of capital punishment itself. Rather it just goes to show you that our justice system, while the best on earth, is still imperfect as it is run by imperfect human beings. But you cannot stop everything just because there are risks. In the process of learning to walk, you stumbled and fell. So therefore you shouldn't try to walk? Just crawl around like an infant for the rest of your life because there is a risk that you will fall and possibly get hurt? That's nonsense! Life is about risks and taking chances. And there are no guarantees (that's why religion is so popular - it gives guarantees of better things to come). And personal risk is something that seems to haunt Americans. After 9/11/2001, we found out that we weren't bulletproof and that we could be harmed; you could walk out in the street tomorrow and be hit by a bus, the roof of your home could collapse. One day you will grow old and yes, like everyone else, you will die. (My apologies if this is making you depressed, but you get my point about risks and the unfortunate realities of life).
So too does this exist in the legal system. We will continue to occasionally see cases like OJ Simpson, where people who are truly guilty of violent crimes are acquitted and released because thay had the money to hire seedy lawyers who can build juries to their specifications and manipulate them with fear tactics. There will be other people still who are convicted because their public defender was too incompetent to do his job. There will be other Scottosboro Boys, where mob rule, personal prejudice, fear and hatred route true justice. But to say that this is capital punishment's fault and that the abolition of it will end these problems is simply not true - it's just blameshifting.
You might also include a bit of statistics - I'm pretty sure the odds of being wrongfully convicted and executed are pretty slim.
Just some thoughts. Hope this helps
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Post by Leo on Jun 25, 2004 13:55:38 GMT -6
You can debate the cost of dp vs Life imprisonment forever, statistics can prove/disprove anything you want depending on how you look at them. However one statement can be stated loud & clear:
Justice isn't for sale to the lowest bidder
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