In his op-ed “The Death Penalty Makes a Mockery of Our Justice System. Abolish it.

” (March

15, 2019), author and deputy editor David Von Drehle reasons that the death penalty is an

unconstitutional practice and should be abolished. Von Drehle supports his declaration with his

denouncement of the Justice System through em dashes, the describe the sequence of events and

effects of suspending the death penalty in Ohio, his sensuous similes to demonstrate the power

the death penalty had on politics and how it lost its power, and his implementation of statistics, to

further prove how the majority of police officers and chiefs prefer other correctional methods to

the death penalty. Von Drehle’s purpose is to unite his audience through their hatred of the death

penalty in order to combine their efforts to abolish the death penalty. Von Drehle demonstrates

his capabilities as a renounced author and editor through establishing a lucid and stern tone with

the High Court and American people easily fosters their agreement of his message that the

impractical and “costly mockery of the justice system” that the death penalty is, should be

abolished.