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, his description of the sequence of

events and their effects of suspending the death penalty in Ohio, his sensuous similes to

demonstrate the power the death penalty previously had on politics, and his implementation of

statistics in order to further prove how the majority of police officers and chiefs prefer other

correctional methods. Von Drehle’s purpose is to unite his audience through their collective

hatred of the death penalty in order to combine their efforts to abolish it completely. Von Drehle

further demonstrates his capabilities as a renounced author and editor through establishing a

lucid and stern tone with the High Court and American people easily fostering their agreement of

his message that the impractical and “costly mockery of the justice system” that the death

penalty is, should be abolished.