Ed Koch | |
Ed KochEd 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. | QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION | CONTENT - Who is Robert Lee Willie and why does the author quote him?
- What is this author's main stance on the death penalty?
- Who is Joseph Carl Shaw, why does the author quote him, and what
does he add to Robert Lee Willie's quotation?
- Discuss the author's notion of the relationship of the government
with potentially serious errors in governing.
- Who is Jimmy Breslin and in what context does Koch refer to him?
How does Koch dismiss Breslin's claim?
- 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?
- What does Koch mean in the last paragraph when he writes, "the
victim dies twice"?
STRATEGY AND STYLE - 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?
- 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?
- 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?
- 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?
- 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?
| ENGAGING THE TEXT | - 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?
- 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 | - 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.
- 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.
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