Find an example of a movement that you agree with presenting their issue or argument and describe how you would reframe it to appeal to a wider audience. Talk about why you made the change and how you hope it to be more effective.
The Movement to Abolish the Death Penalty transcends state lines with campaigns in many individual countries by NGOs, campaigns by INGOs internationally, and even campaigns by the European Union, encouraging the United States as well as countries interested in joining the EU to abolish the death penalty. Human rights discourse is especially active in this debate, operating under the assumption that all human life is sacred. If taking a life is wrong, when the state does it, what does that mean? Is it appropriate punishment for someone who took someone else’s life in the first place? In countries where the death penalty’s existence is controversial, these are the kind of debates that ensue. I think that, to a certain extent, this moral appeal is ineffective and reflective of the fact that (especially in the United States, but also probably globally) we paint a picture of just governments who worry about moral issues. Do I think the US government worries about moral issues? When it comes to life and death matters like sustaining the war sending more soldiers to war, I do not think the US government worries. However, if we appealed to their frugal and (let's face it, China owns us) economically desperate position, it would become clear that the fact that the death penalty is more expensive than life without parole could mean something in the campaign. I am not saying that NGOs don't know this because they certainly do, but I think there is a false assumption that a moral argument is going to win, when the reality is, government always tries to appear moral, but that says nothing about whether it is or not. The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty has a top-ten list of reasons why the US should abolish the death penalty http://www.ncadp.org/index.cfm?content=5 and although I agree with their decision not to bombard people with ten different reasons all the time, there could be work across organizations to promote more than the moral appeal. I think that kind of reframing could force people to call governments out on some of the unnecessary spending.
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I agree with you that the Movement to Abolish the Death Penalty needs to reframe the issue. I think they’ve been pretty successful in a few states with getting the death penalty repealed but for states like Virginia and Texas I agree that they need to reframe the issue. I don’t know if reframing the issue economically will help the campaign though. The U.S. doesn’t always make “rational” decisions based on price as evident by the two wars we’re fighting currently and the stimulus package. I think they will have to take into consideration that many support the death penalty because it seems fair to them. The argument you hear a lot from people who support the death penalty is that one of their loved ones life was taken by the accused and they think that person’s life should be taken by the state. Until the movement to abolish the death penalty can reframe the “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” mentality I don’t think they’ll be successful in abolishing the death penalty. The issue of making the punishment fit the crime needs to be addressed.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was thinking about the war example when I wrote my post (and how it countered my argument). Maybe framing the issue as- The state is killing people, maybe we've given them permission THIS time, but they COULD kill people without our permission in the future?
ReplyDeleteI've always heard that the death penalty was a form of "saving the state money" and that keeping a prisoner alive was only a tax burden, but that seems very unlikely. I agree with njackso3 and how the mentality of equal retribution needs to be dealt with. there are obvious methods of punishing criminals, but there is also an issue of human rights involved with all those cases.
ReplyDeletewhether or not people will ever be able to find a "just" punishment is beyond my knowledge. should punishments be painful? should they be anything that makes the family feel better? who knows.
to change this issue, it's almost like battling the human instinct to hurt others who hurt you. cool topic but my head's starting to hurt from trying to think how to frame the anti-death penalty argument.