The Week’s Editorial Staff, “The death penalty in decline”, Yahoo News. 21. Oct. 2011. Web. 22 Oct. 2011. <http://news.yahoo.com/death-penalty-decline-115800988.html>.
Summarize:
This article talks about the the decreasing of capital punishment throughout the world. Last year, 91 countries that were booked to carry out executions with only 23 being carried out. Even though the U.S. executed the most people so far this year of 36 people, the support throughout the country is dwindling. A Gallup poll was recently taken showing that U.S.’s approval rate has dropped 19 percentage points over a 17 year span to where it now is at 61%. Now, there still are some supporters of capital punishment even though they are dropping, “Someone who murders another human being can only be made to pay for his actions by forfeiting his own life,” says death-penalty advocate Casey Carmical. What has played a big role in the decreasing support is that, 138 people on death row have been exonerated since 1973, and four convicts three in Texas and one in Missouri have had their innocence proven only after they were put to death. Why kill a man if there’s a chance he is innocent? That is something I just don’t understand.
Analysis/Evaluation:
This is a valuable source in my opinion, because it has facts supporting each statement that’s made. What i also found is that it’s not bias, the article presents both sides of the argument with statement’s from pro capital punishment supporters to the non supporters. I also found some compelling numbers which is always strong when presenting your research. With that being said, I will be keeping this source along with adding others.
Reflection:
This was my first source that I found and it happened to be an amazing one in my opinion. The numbers presented and the arguments from both sides of the fence are very helpful, because you aren’t just getting one point of view. The fact that it gives you numbers from 20 to 30 years ago gives you a sense of how people’s mindset changed from being all for it to wanting to have it abolished. Hopefully, the rest of my sources will be this useful as this one is.