Stephen Chapman’s essay “The Prisoner’s Dilemma,” compares two different cultures and their ideologies with regards to justice and punishment. Chapman’s topic can definitely be seen as controversial as it questions the morality of both foreign and western societies justice systems. If one is not reading and thinking objectively it can strike a mine is better mindset within the reader in the first page of his argument. The viewpoint he takes is not one that is commonly displayed nor talked about. Stephen Chapman’s claim in the essay is essentially that western societies prison system is a more cruel form of punishment than middle eastern practices of physical harm. Chapman brings up several pieces of reasons and evidence to support …show more content…
Western punishment doesn't just involve separation from society and living in a locked cell. This is a strong piece of evidence because it brings into question what really goes on in prisons, something which most would rather not think about. It shows how a society can condemn another’s form of punishment yet not take a step back and analyze its own. Another piece reason brought up is that prisons do not do what they were initially intended to do: retribution, specific deterrence, general deterrence, prevention, and rehabilitation. Instead prisons only seem to do one thing and that is punish. If all prisons do is punish then why does society really need them? Chapman is able to use good logic in constructing this reason as it is something which is commonly talked and argued about. However, all the evidence Chapman brings up is the soaring prison rates in the United States in the past 20 years. It leaves more evidence and statistics to be wanted in order to make this reason more justifiable and credible. A final reason Chapman uses to prove his argument is that middle eastern use of torture and physical harm are more effective and possibly even more humane. To support this reason Chapman brings up how one person can have a quick yet brutal punishment for a crime while
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Show MoreHistorians approach history in various ways to catch their reader’s attention and make sure that their books are interesting at the same time. They tend to write histories based on concrete evidence from the past− ethnography, journals, and research. However, John Demos went beyond the normal stereotype. He approached history unconventionally by drawing hypothesis from certain historical evidence and connecting history to his subject rather than just speculating; he made it personal. In Unredeemed Captive, he made it clear that he wrote this historical novel based on research, also, journals and diaries left by the Williams family.
With Congress out of session, the new President, Andrew Johnson, open a period known as "Presidential Reconstruction", in which he particularly superintend the appointment of unworn possession governments throughout the South. He supervise the convening of state politic conventions populated by delegates whom he judgment to be loyal. Three foremost issues came before the conventions: secession itself, the annulling of servitude, and the Confederate fight duel. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina held conventions in 1865, while Texas ' conventionality did not organize until March 1866. Johnson expectation to prevent deliberation over whether to re-admit the Southern acme by accomplishing full ratification before Congress mee in December.
After arguing the failure of prisons, Mendieta establishes his agreement with Davis’ anti-prison rhetoric without introducing the author, her book, or other various abolitionist efforts, “I will also argue that Davis’s work is perhaps one of the best philosophical as well as political responses to the expansion of the prison system...” (Mendieta 293). The article’s author also assumes that readers are familiar with specific torture tactics used on prisoners,“...the United States is facing one of its most devastating moral and political debacles in its history with the disclosures of torture at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and other such prisons…” (293). Mendieta’s act of assuming that readers will already be familiar with Angela Davis and her work, as well as the specific methods of torture used by certain prisons, may cause readers to feel lost while reading the
Alan Gratz astonishing true story “Prisoner B-3087”, takes place in the times of the Holocaust throughout different camps. The main character, Yanek, based on Jack Gruener, is a Jew whom was split up from his family. Alone, he must survive the Nazis. One thing he keeps with him throughout the book is hope can get you through hard times. From the start of the book Yanek had been trying to hold onto the happy things about life.
Ayush Tiwari Red Group May 31, 2023 Respond to Conflict Have you ever read a book in which the characters are put in a position of pure suffering? Would you want to know how they survive? In the book Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz, characters such as Yanek have to face many different conflicts all of which are responded to in different ways. The first conflict that happened was when Yanek faced a scary situation when an officer pounded on his family's door and his mother didn't open it.
Imagine you had been captured by Nazi Germans. They threatened to kill you if you didn't follow instructions. In 1997 Hitler took control of the Jews and put all of them in concentration camps. In the book Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz the author uses Character thoughts, character actions, and conflict to show the theme that the fear of the unknown is the drive to persevere through hard times. In one of the first pages, the author sets the scene with the constant fear of being taken away or kicked out of their home.
The Unredeemed Captive (1995), a non-fiction book by American author and historian John Putnam Demos, is the true story of a kidnapping that shocked colonial Massachusetts. In February 1704, during the French and Indian War, a Native war party descended on the village of Deerfield and abducted Puritan minister John Williams and his family. Although Williams was eventually released, his daughter shocked the colonials by choosing to stay with her captors, eventually marrying into the Mohawk tribe. Exploring themes of colonial politics, the complex relationship between colonists and the native population, and the religious dynamics of colonial America, The Unredeemed Captive was widely praised for its extensively researched narrative. It won the
Jacoby says that those who oppose corporal punishment may argue that it is “too degrading” or “too brutal.” Jacoby mentions that, in today’s society, incarceration is “an all-purpose punishment, suitable -- or so it would seem -- for crimes violent and nonviolent.” However, Jacoby believes that it is prison that is degrading and brutal.
If one thinks jails in modern-day U.S. society are bad, then he /she should consider exploring the detention facilities of other societies. Societies such as the one in Anthem (written by Ayn Rand) had a detention facility called the Palace of Corrective Detention which had horrible conditions compared to modern American jails. In the modern-day U.S. society people have more freedoms and liberties compared to Anthem 's society. After a close examination of Anthem, it is noticeably clear that the U.S. society is more progressive than the society in Anthem, which is glaringly obvious by contrasting modern-day U.S. jail with the Palace of Corrective Detention in Anthem.
In Adam Gopnik 's piece “Caging of America,” he discusses one of the United States biggest moral conflicts: prison. Gopniks central thesis states that prison itself is a cruel and unjust punishment. He states that the life of a prisoner is as bad as it gets- they wake up in a cell and only go outside for an hour to exercise. They live out their sentences in a solid and confined box, where their only interaction is with themselves. Gopnik implies that the general populace is hypocritical to the fact that prison is a cruelty in itself.
In Michael Levin's The Case for Torture, Levin provides an argument in which he discusses the significance of inflicting torture to perpetrators as a way of punishment. In his argument, he dispenses a critical approach into what he believes justifies torture in certain situations. Torture is assumed to be banned in our culture and the thought of it takes society back to the brutal ages. He argues that societies that are enlightened reject torture and the authoritative figure that engage in its application risk the displeasure of the United States. In his perspective, he provides instances in which wrongdoers put the lives of innocent people at risk and discusses the aspect of death and idealism.
The essay In Lieu of Prison, Bring Back the Lash by Peter Moskos he urges the reader to consider the lashing of another individual instead of prison time. In the essay it is suggested to bring the whipping post back to the American system of criminal justice. The reason America's prison problem in which over 2.3 million people are incarcerated. We have more prisoners than soldiers.
In Michael Levin’s “The Case for Torture”, he uses many cases of emotional appeal to persuade the reader that torture is necessary in extreme cases. There are many terms/statements that stick with the reader throughout the essay so that they will have more attachment to what is being said. Levin is particularly leaning to an audience based in the United States because he uses an allusion to reference an event that happened within the states and will better relate to the people that were impacted by it. The emotional appeals used in this essay are used for the purpose of persuading the reader to agree that in extreme instances torture is necessary and the United States should begin considering it as a tactic for future cases of extremity. One major eye catching factor of this essay is the repetitive use of words that imply certain stigmas.
Bastoy prison prioritizes rehabilitation as the primary strategy to reduce the risk of future murdering, rather than punish the murderers (Ugelvik & Dullum, 2012). This is because they believe that reducing the risk of reoffending is the most important things to do and if it is failed, what is the point of punishment. For Foucault, “the punishment were intended not to efface a crime, but to prevent its repetition.” Hence, Bastoy aims to instill the values of responsibility, trust, accountability and leadership. It is proven to be effective because the recidivism rates for Bastoy prison are just 16% compared to the rate in the U.S. which is 60% (Ugelvik & Dullum, 2012).
In the case of the death penalty, it has the added bonus in guaranteeing that the person would not offend again. Supporters of harsh punishments argue that the would-be criminal would consider the costs versus the benefits of committing a crime. If the costs outweigh the benefits, then it is assumed that he would stop what he is doing, effectively ‘deterred’. Furthermore, the usage of harsh punishments to effectively deter crime is ethically justified as it prevents more people from falling victim to crime. However it is extremely difficult to judge a punishment’s effectiveness based on its deterrence effect, consequently we must consider other variables that would entail a person to commit a crime.