the death penalty
Gonzalo Silva The death penalty is a very controversial topic, when it comes to discussing it. Many people are for the death penalty and others are against it. Edward I. Koch, an opinionated mayor of New York City From 1978 to 1989, expresses his opinion on the death penalty with an essay, "Death and Justice", published in the New Republic in April 1985. Koch expresses his opinion on the death penalty through the use of modes such as Ethos, Logos, and Pathos in his essay. These modes are used to used to create a response on the readers, that will either support or oppose what they are reading based on who well he[Koch] uses the modes of persuasion. One of the modes of persuasion Koch uses in this essay in order to be seen as a reliable author, and a reliable source of information is Ethos. Ethos is meant to demonstrate an author's reliability and competence. Mr. Koch exhibits his competence for writing this essay through his past accomplishments, that make him the indicated candidate to write about the death penalty. Koch states, "During my 22 years in public service, I have heard the pros and cons of capital punishment expressed with special intensity. As a district leader, councilman, congressman, and mayor, I have represented constituencies generally thoughts of liberals,"(320). The author, therefore has enough background about the death penalty and its pros and cons, due to his lengthy career serving the public, to write about this controversial topic. Another mode of persuasion Koch establishes in this essay is Logos, which can be described as sentence or paragraph that includes factual data, statistics, quotations and an informed opinion. It[logos] is also meant to evoke a cognitive, rational response on the reader. In order to show his informed opinion on the death penalty, Koch uses a great amount of logos throughout the essay. Koch's formed opinion explains that if the Government system fails to work we are diminished even more than we would be