THINKING SKILLS | ‘CONVINCE ME’ ESSAY (CME)

my name is SHIEH LI TONG date 25/5/2023

[A] MY OWN ONE-SIDED ARGUMENT

[1] my claim

Death penalty should be the only punishment for murder (because)

CHECKLIST
 I want to convince you and others of the truth/acceptability of my claim
 one single claim only (don’t use ‘and’)
 clear
 precise
 controversial
 debatable
 in case the terms/phrases you use are not generally known, define them in a footnote

[2] The main reasons and evidence supporting my claim

It deters future murders.

Potential killers will be deterred from committing murder if they know they could
be put to death and executed for their crimes. According to Isaac Ehrlich's (American
economist) new type of analysis in 1973, for every prisoner who was executed, seven
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lives were saved because they were stopped from committing murder due to the
deterrence of death penalty. Murderers are likely to be deterred by the death penalty
because individuals are more afraid of death than anything else.
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/curriculum/high-school/about-the-death-
penalty/arguments-for-and-against-the-death-penalty

It makes the public feels safer.

Although the criminal is imprisoned, there is still a possibility for a surviving
criminal who has committed heinous crimes to continue to threaten society. For
example, the cold-blooded killer, Ted Bundy escaping imprisonment and murdered other
victims. Death penalty ensures that a criminal will never have the chance to escape
2 from the prison and harm people or commit crimes by putting people to death. This
complete and permanent exclusion from society is considered as a measure to prevent
potential new victims. Thus, the public’s trust towards the government is restored.
https://www.mylawquestions.com/what-are-the-reasons-for-supporting-the-death-
penalty.htm

It is cost-effective.
It can be expensive to keep prisoners in prisons, to ensure their well-being, or
even to monitor prisoners on parole. As a result, it is typically less expensive to
execute criminals who commit those kinds of heinous crimes. Besides, reducing the
number of appeals in death penalty cases and streamlining the appeals process can
assist in reducing expenses. By implementing serious time constraints and
restricting the number of appeals, legal processes can be accelerated, resulting in
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decreased costs caused by lengthy legal actions.
https://dpic-cdn.org/production/legacy/arguments.PDF
https://dejurenexus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Capital-Punishment-Pros-and-Cons.-When-and-Why-
it-can-be-justified-By-Cherie-Dharmani.pdf

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 It enhances the justice system credibility
According to the Death Penalty Information Centre, retribution has its roots in
principles that traditionally have stood by the concepts of "eye for an eye" and
"life for life." The balance of justice shift when someone takes a person’s life on
purpose. Without restoring that equilibrium, violence becomes the dominant social
4 standard. Only the execution of the murderer restores the delicate balance and
enables society to demonstrate effectively that murder is a heinous crime that will
be punished accordingly.
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/curriculum/high-school/about-the-death-
penalty/arguments-for-and-against-the-death-penalty

CHECKLIST
 one reason equals one point (don’t use ‘and’)
 every reason is a different reason (no tautology, repetition)
 logical and relevant [TEST: Does the sentence ‘{my claim} because {reason one}’ make
sense? If it does, the reason works.]
 different aspects/perspectives (independent reasons)

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[B] MY OPPONENT’S ONE-SIDED ARGUMENT

[3] an opposing or alternative claim

Death penalty is hypocritical (because)

CHECKLIST
 only introduce an opposing claim whose reasons you can refute
 the opposing claim should be relevant to your own argument (don’t change lanes and
bring up a new topic)

[4] the reasons supporting the opposing claim (and thus weakening the support for my
own claim)

It perpetuates the violence

The death penalty promotes the concept that using violence to settle conflicts and
obtain justice is appropriate. By approving the state-sanctioned murder of people,
society will become desensitised to violence and the cycle of violence is continued.
1 The social hostility that results from this normalisation of violence may increase,
and respect for human life might eventually fall.
https://dejurenexus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Capital-Punishment-Pros-and-
Cons.-When-and-Why-it-can-be-justified-By-Cherie-Dharmani.pdf

There are risks of executing an innocent person

There may be situations where an innocent person is found guilty and forced to be
executed due to insufficient or incorrect evidence. When someone is sentenced to
death, there is absolutely no turning back. Even if he is later found to be innocent,
there is nothing that could bring him back. On the other hand, if the same person
2 had been imprisoned, however, he could have been released after being found that he
is innocent and could have applied for compensation for wrongful conviction so that
he can live his life as before.
https://dejurenexus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Capital-Punishment-Pros-and-
Cons.-When-and-Why-it-can-be-justified-By-Cherie-Dharmani.pdf

It is as cruel as the crime itself

According to Amnesty International, ‘the death penalty is cruel, inhuman and
degrading.’ It is cruel because it is a relic from the earliest eras of criminology,
when branding, slavery, and other forms of physical punishment were widespread.
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Lethal injection, electrocution, and firing squads are just a few of the execution
methods that can cause psychological and physical suffering to the murderer.
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/276531584.pdf
https://www.aclu.org/other/case-against-death-penalty
It prolongs suffering for the victims’ family
Death penalty prolongs their sufferings since they have to wait through appeals
processes that might take years or decades. Besides, the media is interested in
cases involving death penalty which causes the victims’ dignity to be affected. The
news related to the murder acts as a reminder for the victim’s family which keeps
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reminding them about the certain cases. The death of the murderer does not undo the
harm of the crime and the pain will remain in the victim’s heart.
https://cdn.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/PRI-DP-Myths-Realities-
web.pdf

CHECKLIST
 only introduce an opposing claim whose reasons you can refute

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 the opposing claim should be relevant to your own argument (don’t change lanes and
bring up a new topic)
 don’t misrepresent or trivialise the opposing argument

[C] MY REFUTATION OF THE REASONS OF THE OPPONENT’S ARGUMENT

[5] my refutations of the reasons supporting the opposing claim (these refutations then
function as additional reasons in support of my own claim)

It breaks the violence cycle

The death penalty ends the cycle of violence by removing murder from the society
permanently. It avoids additional violent crimes and protects the potential new
victims by removing the risk of repeat crimes. There are many examples of paroled
murderer continue to killing people such as Maust, who had been found guilty of
manslaughter killed a youngster while stationed in Germany. After the end of his
sentence, he murdered three teenagers and tried to bury them under his house,
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drowned a 15-year-old in a quarry, and stabbed a friend in his sleep. Thus, executing
such a psychopathic killer would break the violence cycle by ensuring that no
further crimes will be committed by the certain murder.
https://www.ranker.com/list/paroled-murderers-who-killed-again/jacob-shelton
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/curriculum/high-school/about-the-death-
penalty/arguments-for-and-against-the-death-penalty

It requires several stages before a murder can be executed

According to the Death Penalty Information Centre (DPIC), there are 8 stages to be
undergone before a murder can be executed. Pre-trial, guilt phase trial, penalty
phase trial, direct appeal, post-conviction review, federal habeas corpus, clemency
and execution. The existence of strict review and appeal procedures enables further
analysis of the evidence, the possibility of mistakes, and any new material that
might emerge after a conviction. These procedures offer more layers of examination,
helping to spot any potential errors and prevent the execution of innocent people.
In 2014, a study from DPIC estimated that only about 4% of those sentenced to death
are innocent while according to the National Registry of Exonerations 2019 annual
2
report, wrongful convictions range between 2% to 10% which is relatively higher
than wrongful execution.
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/curriculum/high-school/about-the-death-
penalty/stages-in-a-capital-case
https://thehighcourt.co/wrongful-convictions-
statistics/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%202019%20annual,between%202%25%20and%2010
%25.
https://innocenceproject.org/news/national-academy-of-sciences-reports-four-
percent-of-death-row-inmates-are-innocent/

It is the most merciful way to die

According to the DPIC, there are many ways to carry out the death penalty, including
lethal injection, firing squad, electrocution, hanging and gas chamber. According
to the Amnesty Organization, among these methods, lethal injection is said to be
the most humane way to die and today, every country that possesses a death penalty
allows for lethal injection executions. Compared to the ancient execution methods
such as drawing and quartering, rat torture, and crucifixion, modern execution
3 methods are less brutal in terms of the suffering time. In modern execution methods,
the criminal will only suffer for a few minutes while the ancient methods will last
for hours or even days.
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/methods-of-execution/description-of-each-
method
https://www.britannica.com/story/cruel-and-unusual-punishments-15-types-of-
torture#:~:text=Drawing%20and%20quartering%20is%20one,England%20in%20the%2013th%20
century.
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 https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/act500102008en.pdf

It offers a sense of finality to the victim’s family

Families of victims may find comfort in the death penalty's finality. Without having
to worry that the criminal may be freed or create a threat in the future, it may be
possible for families to concentrate on getting better and starting over. Besides,
according to the National Centre for Biotechnology Information, Timothy McVeigh who
had committed a mass murder in Oklahoma City, 1995 was executed through lethal
4 injection. The execution of McVeigh was witnessed by the public through television
and majority of the victims said that they were given the sense of justice and
closure knowing that he had deserved a punishment that fits the severity of the
crime.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=91211&page=1
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1120354/

CHECKLIST
 check whether the first refutation relates to the first reason for the opposing claim,
the second to the second, and so on
 every refutation should introduce a new reason for your own claim: the refutation
cannot be the same as one of the reasons you already gave under [2]
 if you can’t refute an opposing reason, then, you have to concede that point; however,
every concession weakens your own position so why would you bring it up in the first
place?
 If you can’t refute any or most of the opposing reasons, you may want to look at your
own claim again:

Have you thought it through? Is what you claim really what you believe? Is this
really the action you would take yourself or want others to take?

CMEs are a good way of challenging your own cherished beliefs and typical actions
and the reasoning behind them. As Cottrell (2011: 3) puts it, “having reasons for
what we believe and do, and being aware of what these are” and “being able to present
to others the reasons for our beliefs and actions” are all integral to critical
thinking.

[A], [B] AND [C]

CHECKLIST
 Is this you talking? Or are you copying some pre-fabricated argument from elsewhere
(e.g., parents, community, the Internet)?
 Have you done any personal thinking? Have you gone through the six activities that
make up critical thinking? Or are you just writing words? The CME is not a writing
exercise but a thinking one.