Rhetorical Analysis Of Kinkel Vs The State Of Oregon

In the present year of 2016 there has already been 7 school shootings around America. The rhetorical analysis of the court document “Kinkel vs The State of Oregon”. The document was written to explain the arguments of both sides of the court and to justify the decision made by the court and judge Haselton through facts and rhetorical accounts of events that transpired of Mr. Kinkel and his actions of the school shooting. Judge Haselton clearly uses Ethos, Logos, and Pathos within the analysis which is used to his advantage.
Judge Haselton was writing to many audiences, the most important and crucial are the defendants and the victim’s family members present. Mr. Haselton was writing this document because the defendants were appealing the court

Ethos is credibility of the author that he mentions and says in the analysis. The author knows as judge Hasleton, uses quotes from medical trained doctors, and parents of victims, and also his knowledge of the laws to help support his claim. The doctors went on for a couple quotes saying that “someday be able to be released into the community with safeguards, including requirements that he see a psychiatrist regularly, be tracked by use of a monitoring bracelet, attend support groups, and have his blood and urine monitored to determine whether he was receiving the appropriate amounts of medication.” (Bolstad, 2002). Judge Haselton then used his own knowledge of the Constitution of Oregon to back up the court’s decision, stating that it was constitutional because the length of the sentence could not be challenged, only the constitution of the punishment itself. The sentence Mr. Kinkel received was actually the minimum he could receive so it could not be deemed as

Pathos is the use of emotions in order to pursue them towards the authors side of the argument. The first evidence the author used was when he was given the description of the crime committed. The crimes that Kinkel committed were so atrocious that as a human being it would be very hard and painful to nearly impossible to feel empathy towards the defendant. The judge also uses the parent’s quotes and remarks that was said in the court to expose and show more pathos, whether it was from the parents of the deceased or just injured. One of the parents stated “What we don't believe is that all those things will ever be available outside of a prison setting. * * * I feel that it would be impossible to ensure that there were the safeguards in place to protect society from your possible actions.” (victim parent, 2002). As empathetic starts, citizens will side with the victims of the defendant’s crimes because they belief the defendant’s crimes were out of evil and cruel torture and deserves all the punishment he can get and not get a break and let back to society where he has the ability to commit potential