Page 150 - Bahasa Inggris SMP KK A signed

Kegiatan Pembelajaran 3

Text 2

1 It is a fact that capital punishment is not a deterrent to crime. Statistics
2
show that in states with capital punishment, murder rates are the same or
3
almost the same as in states without capital punishment. It is also true that it
is more expensive to put a person on death row than in life imprisonment

4
because of the costs of maximum security. Unfortunately, capital punishment
5
has been used unjustly. Statistics show that every execution is of a man and
6
that nine out of ten are black. So prejudice shows right through.

Once again, no sentence in this paragraph (to the left) is completely irrelevant to
the general topic (capital punishment), but the specific focus of this paragraph

shifts abruptly twice.

The paragraph starts out with a clear claim:

Sentence 1, It is a fact that capital punishment is not a deterrent to crime.

Sentence 2 provides evidence in support of the initial claim: Statistics show that
in states with capital punishment, murder rates are the same or almost the same
as in states without capital punishment.

Sentence 3, however, shifts the focus from capital punishment as a deterrent to
crime to the cost of incarceration: It is also true that it is more expensive to put a

person on death row than in life imprisonment because of the costs of maximum
security.

Sentence 4 once again shifts the focus, this time to issues of
justice:Unfortunately, capital punishment has been used unjustly.

Sentences 5 and 6, Statistics show that every execution is of a man and that nine
out of ten are black and, So prejudice shows right through, follow from 4 if one
believes that executing men and blacks is in fact evidence of injustice and

prejudice. More importantly, however, we are now a long way off from the original
claim, that capital punishment does not deter crime. The focus has shifted from

deterrence to expense to fairness.

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