Edward Koch’s article, well over 2000 words, first appeared in The New Republic on April 15, 1985 and this was written roughly half way through his eleven year term as Mayor of New York City. Koch takes on the very controversial topic of the Death Penalty, or as some refer to it as Capital Punishment, is it ever justified? He argues in the affirmative and follows in his reasoning. Koch uses his thesis towards the end of his opening paragraphs, “Life is indeed precious, and I believe the death penalty helps to affirm this fact.” (Koch 127) His thesis is very credible and he does an outstanding job to support it with the following argument.
The audience that Edward Koch is targeting with this article, “Death and Justice: How Capital Punishment Affirms Life” are his liberal constituents, who could potentially get him more votes. Along with them he is also trying to persuade all individuals who are opposed to the death penalty. “I have listened to their ideas. I have weighed their objections carefully. I still support the death penalty.” (Koch 127) He does a phenomenal job explaining his position on different arguments that are most frequently heard from the anti-capital punishment establishment.
Edward Koch served in the United States House of Representatives from 1968 to 1977 and was the Mayor of New York from 1978 to 1989. Koch states, “ During my twenty-two years in public services, I have heard the pros and cons of capital punishment expressed with special intensity. As a district leader, councilman, congressman, and mayor, I have represented constituencies generally thought of as liberal. Because I support the death penalty for heinous crimes of murder, I have sometimes been the subject of emotional and outraged attacks by voters who find my position reprehensible or worse…” (Koch 127) If the readers, such as myself, weren’t aware of his background prior to reading this article, this statement allows us to have better knowledge of him. He elaborates on his credentials and character to the audience by talking about his experience and in doing so he establishes his ethos in a way to gain their complete trust.
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Edward Koch establishes his pathos throughout the whole article with the goal of creating many different emotions for his audience. While establishing his pathos, he also uses logos to support his claims with statistics and factual murder cases. They do an excellent job coming together throughout the whole article. He expounds on us being lectured on morality by cold-blooded killers and several different stomach-wrenching cases.
Koch elaborates on a prisoner at New York’s Green Haven Prison named Lemuel Smith, who was serving four life sentences for murder, as well as an additional two life sentences for kidnapping and robbery. While in prison he was able to lure a corrections officer into the chaplain’s office and strangled her to death. Not only did he not stop there, he then proceeded to mutilate and dismember her body. “An additional life sentence for Smith is meaningless.
Because New York has no death penalty statute, Smith has effectively been given a license to kill.” (Koch 129) He makes his audience feel sympathetic for these innocent victims of the horrendous crimes, and not only that, it makes us feel guilty because we could do more to prevent these crimes. “Had the death penalty been a real possibility in the minds of these murderers, they might well have stayed their hand. They might have shown moral awareness before their victims died, and not after.” (Koch 127) He uses a prime example of the tragic death of Rosa Velez who had been at home when a man, Luis Vera, was robbing her apartment in Brooklyn.
Vera proudly admits that he shot her and Koch explains further that Velez had known him and Vera knew he wouldn’t end up going to chair. This is a powerful example that compliments his argument. It makes the reader feel completely outraged towards Vera because he simply shows no guilt or moral awareness towards this victim. If they did feel any guilt, would Smith have killed for the fifth time while in prison? This is a complete eye opener to his audience and he uses many more cases that truly make your jaw drop.
Edward Koch uses evidence and logic to support all his claims in this article. “It is hard to imagine anything worse than being murdered while neighbors do nothing. But something worse exists. When those dame neighbors shrink back from justly punishing the murderer, the victim dies twice.” (Koch 131) This leaves the audience with a call to action; which is a great way to tie logos into the article. Not only is this logos, it can be considered pathos as well. He is simply showing that these murderers need to be avenged for their crimes. There needs to be a repercussion, and a life sentence isn’t the answer because in the cases he shared with us, they show no moral awareness and are still killing innocent victims. Koch points outs that Death Penalty Opponents frequently cite the bible and the 6th Commandment which of course states: “Though Shalt Not Kill,” but he overrides their argument in pointing out that in the original Hebrew the commandment read: “Though Shalt Not Commit Murder.” (Koch 130)
At the heart of Koch’s argument is his belief that Capital Punishment affirms life. “The Death of anyone – even a convicted killer – diminishes us all. But we are diminished even more by a justice system that fails to function. It is an illusion to let ourselves believe that doing away with capital punishment removes the murderer’s deed from our conscious. The rights of society are paramount. When we protect guilty lives, we give up innocent lives in exchange.” (Koch 131) He respectfully listens to the opposing views and examines the arguments that are most frequently heard in opposition. He does a phenomenal job at explaining the reasons he maintains his position.
In 2005, supporters of the death penalty in the New York Legislature passed a bill restoring New York’s death penalty in the Republican-controlled State Senate, but the legislation was voted down by a legislative committee in the Democratic-controlled New York Assembly, and was not enacted into law. In 2008, the State Senate again passed legislation that would have established the death penalty for the murder of law enforcement of officers, but the Assembly did not act on the legislation. So it seems, The Democratic liberals are still not convinced. Mr. Koch, if still alive, would still be showing his opponents the error of their ways.
Works Cited
- Barnet, Sylvan, and Hugo Adam Bedau. Contemporary & Classic Arguments: a Portable Anthology. Bedford/St Martin’s, 2014.
