Abigail Berringer
My research question is, "Why is the death penalty not justified and needs to be abolished?" I am a criminal justice and pre-law major, so I have learned about the death penalty in some of my classes and it is very interesting to me. I firmly believe every defendant has the right to a fair trial in a court of law and the complications that often arise with a death penalty case make it almost impossible for that to be achieved. I plan to focus my research question on the legal issues for example, race and demographics, that may influence which defendants receive the death penalty, resulting in an unfair trial. Since I have some prior knowledge about the death penalty from classes I have taken for my major, I believe I am qualified to research this topic. This topic is related my personal values because I do not believe that executing people is the answer when a heinous crime is committed. I support an end to the death penalty because I view it as an insufficient use of punishment in our modern day society and that is why I want to research reasons against its continuation. 

I started my research by looking for general information and background, I browsed the Death Penalty Information Center and found a report that was written by the previous director and I decided to use it as one of my sources. The report discusses the history of the death penalty and how it is enforced in the modern day criminal justice system. This source targets the flaws of the death penalty that have been occurring since it was re-instated in 1976 and demonstrates the arbitrariness of the sentence in terms of how it is decided. There are many factors that can influence a court case; race and geography are two discussed in detail in this source. Another factor that is analyzed in this source is the location of the trials; the report cites specific counties, states and regions in the United States that implement capital punishment more frequently than others. The majority of the evidence in this source displays the problems that are associated with the death penalty, but the report is not intended to persuade the reader to favor the end of the death penalty. The purpose of the Death Penalty Information Center is to inform people about the death penalty, as opposed to convincing them if it is right or wrong, therefore this source is primarily unbiased. As I previously stated, the author of this report was the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a position he held for twenty-three years. He is very knowledgeable about the subject and teaches a course on the death penalty at the Catholic University of Law. Overall, this source has provided background knowledge and relative evidence for why the death penalty should no longer be legal. 

Another source I found when searching for general information about the death penalty is an article from Time magazine titled, "The Death of the Death Penalty". The article's purpose is to convey to the reader why, eventually, the death penalty will be abolished in the U.S. The author's claim is supported by evidence from court case examples, death row and cost statistics, and quotes from judges that have made rulings on decisions regarding the death penalty. This source also aims to persuade the reader to agree that the death penalty should no longer be used. The author, David Von Drehle has worked as an editor-at-large for Time magazine and has also written a book about the history of the death penalty. The author is slightly biased because it is an argumentative article that favors an end to the death penalty, but the statistics he utilizes are still credible. "The Death of the Death Penalty" will provide my paper with support for why the death penalty is no longer a worthwhile punishment in the United States criminal justice system. 

When I was investigating my first source from the Death Penalty Information Center, I discovered another report to support my paper and would contribute to the logos aspect of it. The report compiles statistics, which are the main evidence, regarding the use of the death penalty in the year 2015. This is a valuable source because it is extremely current and provides a general outlook on how the death penalty has been implemented over the past year. The report analyzes and illustrates information pertaining to current death penalty statistics and how they differ from statistics in years past. The source is credible because the Death Penalty Information Center gathers information regarding the death penalty and compiles a report every year that provides new and current statistics. Since this report came from the information center, it is not bias and will be a great source for statistics in my paper. Even though there is not one primary author, the report as a whole, is the product of the Death Penalty Information Center and the information they have gathered. The statistics in the report for the year 2015 reference the number of death row inmates that have been exonerated since 1973 and it also provides information about how many Americans still support the death penalty. I will be able to use those statistics when discussing the problem of innocence and why the majority of people may still support the death penalty. 

My research question is arguable because many people advocate for the death penalty to continue, but my goal will be to convince readers, through my research, that it is not justified and the way it is administered makes it unfair to use. Also, as I have mentioned before, there are many factors that can influence the court's decision such as the location of a trial and race. Other issues of the death penalty include innocence and executions; many people fail to consider these points when deciding whether or not to support the death penalty. I plan to draw attention to all of these problems in my research paper. I have mostly found arguments that are against the death penalty or offer statistics that favor the end of the death penalty. Many of my sources are not arguments, but rather they point out the flaws of the death penalty, therefore they do not conflict with one another. My sources touch on many of the same points; this will allow them to flow and work together to support my argument. I will continue investigating articles that support the death penalty but also search for sources that refute the death penalty, so that I am able to acknowledge my opposition's point of view. I believe I have an arguable research question because it is asking why the death penalty is unjustified and how that relates to why it needs to be abolished in the U.S. I believe that my interest in this topic and my major make me qualified to research this topic and I will continue to find evidence to support my argument that the death penalty should be abolished because it is unjust from a legal viewpoint. 

