Death Penalty Survey

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Death Penalty Survey

It's my belief that people often lack enough information to have an informed opinion, but go ahead and give their opinions anyway. Given the time, money and desire to complete this survey again I'd change my approach. I'd attempt to educate them more on the subject by providing them some detailed information such as factual statistics on both the pros and cons of the death penalty. Thus providing them with a broader background relating to the subject. I feel that by providing factual statistics and historical data that it would greatly add to the validity of the survey.

Of the many questions available to base my survey on, I chose "Are you in favor of the death penalty?". With this question I interviewed twenty-four people. I had to get their name, age, race, sex, marital status, birthplace, religion, and of course the answer to the question. Then with the results of the survey I wrote this composition.

Two weeks ago my neighbor received an unfortunate phone call that his sister had been killed in a car crash. While traveling at a high rate of speed, three underage boys had broad-sided her as they proceeded through a red traffic light at eighty-five mile per hour. The boys had previously stolen the car and were being chased by the police. Besides my neighbor's sister, the front passenger in the stolen car was also killed. The driver and another passenger were only slightly injured.

Initially my neighbor's father was not going to take any legal action against the boys or their families. That was until he found out there was both alcohol and a high-powered rifle in their vehicle. The driver of the car now faces two counts of murder as well as the death penalty.

This event forced me to reflec...

... middle of paper ...

...led I'd have to say "yes", but if it were someone else's "no"." Also two people surveyed were my neighbor and his wife. The neighbor whose sister was killed in the previously mentioned car crash. Without hesitation, they both responded with immediate "yes" answers. My immediate thoughts on their response was I wonder what their answer would have been prior to the accident. These two examples both support the fact that emotions really may play a part in our decision making process.

In conclusion of this survey, I was not surprised at all by the outcome because I knew that it was going to come out this way. Doing this survey was a fun and interesting experience. It gave me an opportunity to speak with some people I haven't spoken to in a long time. It also provided me the opportunity to reflect on my decision on the question, "Am I in favor of the death penalty?"

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