Death Penalty Arguements



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For death penalty

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12 Angry Men

Last Thursday, on the 18th of March we watched the movie "12 Angry Men". It is about a jury that is discussing whether to give someone the death penalty because he is accused of murder. In the beginning most of the jurors vote the accused guilty, but there was one juror who voted not guilty. The other jurors were confused as to why he voted not guilty because all the evidence seemed clear that it was the accused who committed the murder. When the one juror started analysing the evidence, it was found that the accused was not actually guilty of the murder.

The Stars of the Twelve Angry Men are :
Juror #1 - Martin Balsam
Juror #2 - John Fielder
Juror #3 - Lee J.Cobb
Juror #4 - E.G. Marshall
Juror #5 - Jack Klugman
Juror #6 -Edward Binns
Juror #7 - Jack Warden
Juror #8 - Henry Fonda
Juror #9 - Joseph Sweeny
Juror #10 - Ed Begly
Juror #11 - George Voscovek
Juror #12 - Robert Webber

My favourite part of the movie was the ending when the last juror who voted guilty, changed his mind. Throughout the whole 'discussion' he voted that the accused was guilty. He was infact influenced by his personal views and experiences. Many jurors are strongly influenced by personal experience and opinion. This is why when lawyers are argueing their case, they will find out more about the jurors and use examples that they can relate to to get their vote.

My favourite juror was the man who stood up for his views and did not back down. Although everyone was against him and was giving him a hard time, he did not give in to the pressure and in the end convinced everyone that the accused was not guilty of the murder charge. This proves that all evidence no matter how reliable it may seem should be analysed and examined to prevent someone from being wrongly charged.

Overall I think that the movie gave me a very good idea of how a jury works, what it is like and how much of a responsibility they have. It was also very interesting how most of the movie was just filmed in one room!

Cyberbullying Case Study

What follows is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people, places or situations is purely coincidental.

Nazar, a Grade 9 student, transferred to a new school halfway through the semester. He had trouble making friends until he discovered the school’s Facebook network. Most of the other students on Facebook responded to his “friend” requests and he soon began to feel more included, and made friends with some of them at school as well.

After a while, though, Nazar noticed that his friends list was shrinking as people removed him from their friends lists. He was puzzled by this at first until one of his offline friends told him that Chong Wei, a Grade 11 student, had gotten angry at Nazar because he had seen Nazar talking to Linda, Chong Wei’s ex-girlfriend. Chong Wei had begun to pressure everyone he knew to remove Nazar and Linda from their friends lists on Facebook, and to ignore them at school as well.

One afternoon in the Library, Nazar got more and more angry at Chong Wei and his friends. Since he had finished his work for the period, he decided to start a Facebook group called “Why I Hate Chong Wei,” and he invited everyone still on his friends list to join it. It turned out that there were quite a few people at the school who did not like Chong Wei and his friends, and Nazar’s group grew quickly. Whenever the message traffic on the group slowed, Nazar would try to boost it by posting some shocking accusation about Chong Wei, such as suggesting that he had cheated on Linda or that he had hit her when they were dating (Linda was not involved in the group, and had never said any such thing).

Soon other members of the group started to make their own accusations and suggestions about Chong Wei, some even saying that Chong Wei should have water balloons thrown at him when he went up the main stairway. Nazar responded to that suggestion, saying rocks should be thrown instead.

After a few weeks, one of Chong Wei’s friends discovered the group and reported it to him. Chong Wei told his parents and they decided to report it to the principal and keep him out of school until things had been worked out, as well as to report what Nazar had done to the police.

The acts of cyberbullying in this case are
- pressuring people to "unfriend" and isolate someone
- starting a "group" to promote hate against someone
- making up rumours about someone
- suggesting hurting someone

I think that b0th of them were the perpetrator and the target at some point. In the beginning when Nazar was the target; Chong Wei was the perpetrator. But at the end, Chong Wei became the target and Nazar became the perpetrator. I think this shows that some situations can cause people to act a certain way all to defend themselves or get back at someone. In the beginning, I do not think that Nazar had any intention of hurting Chong Wei, but because Chong Wei was asking people to isolate Nazar, he had to do something about it. But, Nazar is also in the wrong for making up false stories about Chong Wei. I think that if I were in Nazar's position, I would definitely find another way to get Chong Wei's attention, instead of creating rumours I would try to talk to him about it, or maybe even talk to his friends about it. This way I would not be doing anything wrong. I do think that what Chong Wei did was cyberbullying as well. If I were Chong Wei, I would probably accuse Nazar of attempting to hurt me and cause me harm. If I were Chong Wei's parents, I would take advantage of the 'group' that Nazar created against Chong Wei and say that he is the victim. If I were a teacher finding out about this case, I would tell both Chong Wei and Nazar to stop hating each other. I do not think the police should be too involved but if they had to be, they should just give both of them a warning.

Although I do not personally think that there is or will be any cyberbullying in Nexus, I still have to consider what would be done if it were to happen. I think that everyone will be very supportive of the right thing to do.

Cyber Bullying

1 = Totally acceptable and appropriate

2 = Possibly wrong, but no action needs to be taken

3 = Wrong, and school authorities or Internet service providers should take action

4 = Wrong, and civil action could be taken by the target or the target’s parents

5 = Wrong, and criminal charges should be pressed

1.A student posts a negative review of a concert given by another student’s band. The review focuses on the band members’ skill as musicians and the quality of their music.

1

2. A student posts a story making fun of a teacher, suggesting that he is unqualified to teach. The teacher’s name is not used, but he is clearly recognizable to anyone who knows him.

3

3. A student uploads to YouTube a video of his band performing a song that makes fun of teachers. No specific teacher is named or is identifiable from the song.

2

4. A student writes a letter to the school administration stating that a teacher has used improper discipline in class.

1

5. A student finds that photos of her, which were taken by her (now ex) boyfriend have been uploaded to his Facebook page. Then they were copied and reproduced in many more places, including photo-sharing sites. Her ex-boyfriend says that he is not responsible for what was done with the photos after he uploaded them.

2

6. A teacher asks students in her class to help write holiday greetings in a variety of languages for the school’s Web site. Without the teacher’s knowledge, one of the students’ contributions is a false and insulting statement against another teacher.

3

7. During an instant messaging session with several participants, a student accuses her boyfriend of cheating on her.

1

8. A student creates a Web site in which she criticizes school policies and suggests that several teachers, whom she names, are overly strict in their discipline.

2

9. A student creates a Facebook group in which he states that one of his teachers is a space alien who is scheming to abduct students and take them to her home planet.

3

10. A teacher discovers that students are being pressured by a popular student to remove an unpopular student from their Facebook “friends” lists.

3

Witnesses

How reliable are your senses?

There are many things that can affect our senses. Some enhance the senses and some can distract the senses.

Senses can be enhanced by :

- drugs

- exercise

- chilli

- sleep

These things make us more aware of what is going on. For example after we eat or after we exercise we tend to be more alert therefore being able to realise more of what is going on. If we were to witness a crime when we are fully awake and aware of our suroundings, we are more likely to have seen exactly what happened and even remember the details of the criminal.

Our senses can also be easily distracted. For instance if someone were to be woken up by a burglar at night, it is quite likely that they are not going to remember the little details of the person because they were tired and not fully conscious. Sometimes people can even be mistaken and accuse a perfectly innocent person of something.

I think that eyewitness accounts should be taken seriously, but also analysed to see if it can be trusted. Things that should be taken into account are the state that the witness was in, also what time of the day it was.

The Death Penalty : For or Against?

There are many arguments for and against the death penalty.

For

- Justice (prevents vigilance)

- Deterrent

- safety

- Cheaper

- Prisoner cannot escape

Against

- Universal DHR

- Innocent

- Does not necessarily stop crime

- Encourages violent crime

I personally vote to retain the death penalty but get rid of the mandatory death sentence. Although I vote to keep the death penalty, I think that it should not be the first choice of punishment but rather the last resort.

Should Different Offences Be Given One Fixed Punishment?

We do not think that there should be one fixed punishment for different offences. Each crime is committed by someone for different reasons
There is a wide range of offences in this world, there should not be one fixed punishment for the different offences this is because some are severe and some are not. Also the range of people that do this crimes. and the reason why these people did it. Depends on why the person did it.
For Example, if someone who is hungry stole one bun from a bakery because he is starving and needs it for his live, I personally do not think he should be punished but instead should be helped. This person is perfectly innocent and is just trying to keep himself alive.
But if there someone who would steal a bun for the fun of it, that is an actual crime.

My Reflection on Visiting the Palace of Justice

Palace of Justice

The visit to the Palace of Justice was very interesting. I learnt a lot about the Judicial System of Malaysia. Before I did not know much about the law and the court systems or how it works, now I understand it better and know a lot more. During the question and answer session in the conference room, I found out many things about the death sentence in Malaysia. Apparently about 12 people get hanged a month! I never knew the scale of how many people were being sentenced to death in Malaysia. That was quite shocking but good to know.

It was also great experience to be able to witness a court in session. I got to see what happens in a court and learn about the seating arrangements and etiquette in the court room. It was very weird and a bit scary to see the cells where the criminals are detained. The cells are located at the back of the court room, the criminals would be there then brought to the court by the prison guards when they are called or needed.
I think everyone was very honored that we were the first school to visit and be allowed in to the courts. It was a good experience that I will remember.