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 reflect on my feelings relating to the death penalty. Am I really for or against the death penalty? Have I ever really understood what society has learned from the death penalty and its history. Some practical considerations I'll take in making my own decision are: 1) The possibility of error. Sometimes a person might be put to death who is innocent. 2) Unfair administration. Capital punishment is inflicted disproportionately on the poor and minorities. 3) Deterrence. The death sentence is an effective deterrent of crime, it's more economic than life sentences, it's a moral obligation to the victim's families and it's necessary to bring justice to society. 4) Agony suffered by the families. The execution of an offender gives comfort and support for the families of the homicide victims. 5) Weakness of the argument from deterrence. The claim that the threat of capital punishment reduces violent crime is inconclusive, certainly not proven and morally suspect. 6) The length of stay on death row. If there were ever any validity to the deterrence argument, it is negated by the endless appeals, delays, technicalities, and retrials that keep persons condemned to death waiting for execution for years on end. 7) Mitigating circumstances. Persons who commit vicious crimes have often suffered from neglect, emotional trauma, violence, cruelty, lack of love, and a host of destructive social conditions. These extenuating circumstances may have damaged their humanity to the point that it is unfair to hold them fully accountable for their wrongdoing. So with my attention on the subject, I've often wondered if the majority of people were against the death penalty or not.

The majority of people I surveyed were family and friends. I felt it would be more interesting obtaining the views and comments on this subject from those around me. While obtaining my results, I used three different methods for finding people to survey. The methods I used were e-mail, telephone and face-to-face conversations. I found that the most effective methods used were the telephone and face-to-face. These two methods provided me not only the opportunity to discuss the subject at hand but to obtain a more self-focused view of their responses.

Before starting this assignment I gave a prediction on what the survey would show. My prediction was that the majority of people would say "yes" to the death penalty. With the majority of those being surveyed being either family or friends and because I'm Catholic, I guess that the majority of people surveyed will also be Catholic.

I was correct on my prediction. The statistics on the survey did indeed show that more people approximately fifty-eight percent are in favor of the death penalty. As I expected, the majority of those surveyed, eighteen of twenty-four or seventy-five percent were Catholic.

From this survey, I had found out that out of twenty-four people there were fourteen of them or fifty-eight percent agreeing that they are indeed "in favor of the death penalty". Seven out of twelve women said yes to the death penalty. Seven of twelve men were also in favor of the death penalty. All twenty-four of those surveyed were white, with twelve of them being male and twelve female. Of those an equal twelve were forty years of age or younger, and twelve were forty-one or older. Ten of eighteen married people said "yes" they were in favor of the death penalty. While four of six non-married people also said "yes".

Upon questioning some of those who were against the death penalty, several reasons were given supporting their views. One person stated: "Rights, does the government really have the right to kill? Perhaps in self defense, as in a policeman firing on an armed and dangerous criminal. Suppose we apply the same standards to the government that we have for civilians. True, civilians have the right to shoot at an intruder who is entering their home. But if the civilian catches the intruder, incapacitates him, and has him under his control, then shooting the intruder would be considered simple murder. That's what capital punishment issimple murder".

Another person opposed to the death penalty claimed: "Murder, what is the difference between the state killing and an individual killing? The end result is the sameone more dead body, one more set of grieving parents, one more cemetery plot. Every time we execute someone, we as a society sink to the same level as the common killer".

Someone else exclaimed: "It's cruel and unusual punishment, it's torture to keep someone locked up when they know they are waiting to be killed. The methods of executing people have all been found to be excessively cruel. For instance, it often takes ten minutes or more to die in the electric chair". Another stated: "It's killing, even though I know there is injustice in our judicial system, I believe that no human being should be unjustly and unfairly killed by the punishment of the law".

One individual who strongly opposed the death penalty and was without a doubt the most emotional with his response exclaimed: "In my opinion, life sentence is just; capital punishment is revenge. It is an ancient, barbaric method of punishment that has no place in a modern society. Capital punishment solves nothing. It does not work as a deterrent, it discriminates against racial minorities and those without money or power, it hurts innocent people, it is a cruel and unusual punishment, it breeds violence, it is more expensive to taxpayers, and it is against the morals and laws that this society has been teaching my family and me".

It was pretty interesting to find out that six out of six people surveyed that were not Catholic were all in favor of the death penalty. Another result that surprised me was that an equal amount of women as well as men were in favor of the death penalty. I thought fewer women than men would say "yes".

Of those in favor of the death penalty, one person said: "It's retribution, the death sentence given to murderers is an effective deterrent of crime". Another claims: "Economics, from a taxpayers point of view the death sentence is a more economic choice than life sentences". Someone else said: "Suffering, families of murdered victims suffer greatly. I argue that the execution of an offender gives comfort and support for the families of the homicide victims".

I believe emotions play a large part in how people respond or react to certain situations. One person who responded with a "no" answer stated, "If it were my wife who was killed 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?"