Ed Koch

Ed Koch, "Death and Justice"

Ed Koch (1924- ) was born in New York City and earned an LL.B. from New York University in 1948. He's been a lawyer, a New York City councilman, a U.S. Congressman for nine years, and Mayor of New York from 1978-1989. Koch has also been a radio and television host, in the latter case, of The New People's Court. His books include the autobiography Mayor (1984), Ed Koch on Everything: Movies, Politics, Personalities, Food and Other Stuff (1994), and Giuliani: A Nasty Man (1999). He has also contributed to periodicals such as New York Magazine, The American Enterprise, Playboy, and ABAJournal. Koch also has co-written a series of murder mysteries that center around the city with which he's most closely associated. "Death and Justice," a sustained argument about the death penalty, was first published in 1985 in The New Republic.

CONTENT

1. Who is Robert Lee Willie and why does the author quote him?
2. What is this author's main stance on the death penalty?
3. Who is Joseph Carl Shaw, why does the author quote him, and what does he add to Robert Lee Willie's quotation?
4. Discuss the author's notion of the relationship of the government with potentially serious errors in governing.
5. Who is Jimmy Breslin and in what context does Koch refer to him? How does Koch dismiss Breslin's claim?
6. What main reason does Koch give to refute the idea that the U.S. shouldn't use the death penalty because other major democracies don't?
7. What does Koch mean in the last paragraph when he writes, "the victim dies twice"?

STRATEGY AND STYLE

1. Review your answer to Content question a.) above. Koch notes that Willie's statement was issued just minutes prior to his execution. Why do you think he makes note of the timeframe? How might this serve to get a reader's attention in an introduction?
2. What is the author's main argument here? What are his main points and what types of support does he give for each? Do you find his support persuasive?
3. In paragraph six the author uses an analogy to compare murder to something else. Complete the comparison. What do you make of the analogy in light of the author's view of the death penalty? What limit does Koch himself put on the analogy here?
4. The author divides his reasons for supporting the death penalty into sections and numbers them. What does he gain from this decision? What would he lose without it?
5. The author makes a distinction between the words murder and kill. How do these choices help him further his argument? Is this a reasonable and meaningful distinction to draw?

1. What are your feelings about the death penalty? Have you debated it with anyone? How might the answers to these questions have affected your reading?
2. Have you ever served on a jury? If you have, what was the case about? If you haven't could you imagine serving on a jury that had to decide a death penalty case? In either event, what would you do if you were called to serve on such a case?

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUSTAINED WRITING

1. Koch, in his conclusion, discusses a citizen's rights and responsibilities regarding the death penalty. Pick another current issue in the U.S. where these two things might be seen as at odds. Using your own experience and your reading, write an essay explaining the most important rights and responsibilities involved with your topic.
2. The author quotes the New York Times as saying, "execution can never be made humane through science." Form that statement, either positively or negatively, into a thesis and write an essay about this topic. Be sure your ideas of science and humane are clearly spelled out.

FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

One reason sometimes given to support the death penalty is that it is cheaper to execute a convicted murderer than to keep him or her in prison for life. Do some research to answer the following questions: How much does a typical death penalty case cost to try? How much does it cost to house a typical inmate convicted for murder per year? How many years does such an inmate usually remain in prison? What conclusions can you draw?

WEB CONNECTION

Do two searches online for this author. For the first one type "Edward I. Koch," and for the second one type "Ed Koch." Which approach gets you more hits? How does the nature of the results differ? What does this tell you about search engines and searching strategy?

LINKS

Biographical

Here is a biography with a photo, and some information about Koch's talk show The Voice of Reason, which airs on WEVD in New York.

The staff of the U.S. Congress has prepared this straightforward biography of Koch, which focuses on his education and political career. Why do you think the information here differs from that presented in the biography above?

Bibliographical

This Salon.com directory has links to articles by Koch that cover topics such as obscenity, Monica Lewinsky, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The author conducted this 2000 interview with PaperMag, and in it discusses such things as Rudy Giuliani, current drug laws, and his own sexuality.

Cultural

This directory from Google.com contains all the links you'd ever want to find out about The People's Court, a show that Koch once hosted.

Rozanne Gold is a chef and cookbook author. Here's her take on being Mayor Koch's chef at Gracie Mansion when she was only twenty-three years old.

Would you like to write a paper about the death penalty, but aren't sure how to narrow such a topic? Take a look at this directory from Yahoo.com on the subject and you'll get plenty of good ideas.