How to Write a Death Penalty Essay

The death penalty subject is complex and controversial. On one hand, the death penalty is incompatible with the principles of modern society. On the other hand, there are crimes so terrible, that many people begin to doubt their beliefs. Burned by grief, they turn to the buried long ago desires of revenge. And do not forget about the dubious representation of the capital punishment idea in the mass culture.

The death penalty is forbidden in many countries of the world. Other countries still practice it. As for the USA, it depends on the state. 29 states practice the death penalty legally. The federal government can also use the death penalty, so can the military. 21 state of the USA abolished the death penalty or never used it at all. Many activists fight for the abolishment of capital punishment all over the world and for good, but the idea still has its supporters.

It raises the question of whether modern society can practice the death penalty. It is one of the most serious moral and social contradictions of our time. And that’s why teachers offer their students to write essays about their views on the death penalty. This encourages them to express their thoughts on the subject. Also, they will run their researches to get a better understanding of the issue.

Choose the Subject for the Death Penalty Essay

The problem of capital punishment is so huge, that one could hardly cover all its aspects. That’s why the student should choose one of the issues and concentrate on it. People can support the option of capital punishment or oppose it. Exclusions can be accepted by both sides. In other cases, both the supporters and opponents remain adamant. When you write this essay, you will most likely express one of these two points of view. As a rule, people don’t remain indifferent.

There is one more peculiarity. It is not enough to find the information and cite some known people for an essay. It is necessary to give the author’s opinion about the problem.

Refer to the following most actual aspects of the death penalty case:

• Does it match the modern era moral to apply capital punishment to people?

Here the student may explore the ethical side of the death penalty. The main questions may deal with the state committing the same crime of murder. Another issue is the absence of any positive impact of the death penalty for anyone. Also, it can be useful to involve the traditionalist mindset. We mean the old-times “revenge” concept and religious statements.

• Does the death penalty really prevent crimes?

One may refer to the historical context. Check there for the data if the capital punishment threat was ever efficient to prevent murders. It would be worth mentioning the suicide bombers and the inefficiency of the capital punishment threat for them.

• Can the verdict be wrong and how often does it happen?

This subject will demand deep researches of the history of capital punishment verdicts in the country. There are statistical data about the wrongly made verdicts and executions of the innocent ones.

• What is the impact of the death penalty threat on crimes becoming crueler?

For an essay on this topic, the student can refer to the statistics again. Besides, there are great sources like the interviews of the lawyers and investigators. Many of them claim that the threat of execution does not stop the criminal. On the other way round, it urges to commit more crimes, as there is nothing more to lose.

• What if the people turn to the Lynching?

Here one may refer to the historical data on the mob law. Some people use this argument to support the idea of official capital punishment. They claim that there are a fair trial and keeping to the proper procedure.

• Capital punishment guarantees that the murderer will not commit the crime again.

Some murderers served their times and then killed again. You should refer to the statistics data to get more information on the subject.

• Is the death penalty justified economically?

The author needs to run the study to compare the costs of capital punishment with the cost of life imprisonment

Each of the above subjects can work for an essay with any attitude towards the problem. One can take the topic which feels like “supporting” and use it to reject the idea of capital punishment. Here the authors will have their freedom to choose the way of presenting their ideas.

Prepare for the Writing the Death Penalty Essay

Before you start to write your text, you need preparations. First of all, gather the most reliable information on the subject. Your essay is a kind of research, and you need to support your words by facts.

Refer to the official informational sources only. Pay special attention to the statistics data where you can get numbers. View your subject in historical context and illustrate the changes with graphs.

When you have all the data you need for your essay, plan your work. Any essay consists of three parts: the introduction, the thesis statements, and the conclusions. Make a plan of the text to organize both your ideas and gathered facts.

Write an Introduction for an Essay

In the introduction part, you define the goal of your text and provide a brief explanation of what you will talk about. In general, you claim whether you support or reject the death penalty idea. The theme is serious enough and it requires proper attitude. Still, you should remember that an essay is not an official document. They expect you to be emotional in certain aspects and present your views on this problem.

Compile the Thesis Statements

This is the main part of the essay where you provide your statements and either defend or deny them. If you tend to work on a plan, enter the following entries in it:

• Define your main statements and make each one a separate plan item.
• Make a “column” of each statement. The entry should include sub-paragraphs. There you will provide your vision of that aspect of the general theme. In brief, you should keep to the “statement and its grounds” template in this part.
• Use the data you gathered during the research as proofs. Give examples and name figures. Create or borrow with a citation some visual means like photos, diagrams, graphs, etc.
• Re-read the body part of the essay thoroughly and ensure that the main idea is obvious in every fragment. Besides, all fragments should be connected, and their contents must be logically organized.

Write a Conclusion for an Essay

The conclusion part is where you will summarize your research. Here you are supposed to refer to the main ideas you stated in the introduction. Remind the audience about them and once more stress your personal opinion on the subject.

Words Choice for the Death Penalty Essay

Even if you work on a very serious subject in your essay, you should not make the writing style stiff. Essay is a form of writing where you as an author will have freedom. Besides, it always requires you to offer personal views on the problem. And, secondary, your essay will have addressees. Other people will read or listen to your essay.

That’s why compose your essay in a colloquial style, but don’t use slang or specific words. If you are going to cite phrases from the official documents, choose those written in plain style. Or, it might be better to paraphrase them. The text should be easy-to-understand, so, avoid specific terms. Such sophisticated and rare words distract and even annoy the audience. Be emotional, but keep to the middle and don’t turn to overreact.

The difficult subject of capital punishment can be discussed on many levels. One of the good methods to get more attention to it is to offer to write an essay. It is an efficient way to encourage students’ personal investigations and considerations.

Here we recommend how to choose the most suitable theme and how to write the text. Hope this will help you to perform this task properly.