Critical Analysis Forms

1

Identify the principal issue presented by the source. The principle issue in this article is the unrighteousness of the death penalty.

2

Identify any examples of bias presented by the author. If none exist, explain how you determined this. I think there was a strong moral and religious biased throughout this article. This is evident through statements such as "Thou shall not kill," which is a direct quote from the bible. Also he stated that by electing who lives and dies we are pretending to be God.

3

Identify any areas that are vague or ambiguous. If none exist, explain how you determined this. There were two theories that he started to embark on but did not finish. With the first he was beginning to disprove the "eye for an eye" theory by stating that not everyone who commits a murder is sentenced to death. The second was his theory about how violence begets violence and that we can not discourage murder by killing people.

4

Do you find the source credible? Explain your reasoning. This author is a police officer and has extensive knowledge about criminal cases and the death penalty. I would use this as a credible source.

5

Identify and name any rhetorical devices used by the author. If none exist, explain how you determined this. In this article the author used several loaded questions. Some examples are, "When mistake-prone humans send some criminals to the death chamber and others to prison are we not appropriating God's authority?" and "How do we quantitatively measure the heinousness of a murder?"

6

Identify and name any fallacies used by the author. If none exist, explain how you determined this. ". . .Not only does the criminal become glorified, the taxpayer-subsidized court costs are horrendous." This is a hasty generalization by stating that all or most criminal are glorified. There are thousands of murders committed state to state and the majority of those murders do not result in huge media coverage or lengthy trials.

7

State one argument made by the author. "We play the role of God by judging who will live and who will die."

8

Identify the premises and conclusion of the argument. The premise is, "By judging who will live and who will die" and the conclusion is, "We play God."

9

Is the author's argument valid or invalid, sound or unsound, strong or weak? Explain