De La Torre, Frank (2020). Death Penalty a Brief Introduction for Criminology Students. Retrieved from https://fau-test.mediasite.com/Mediasite/MyMediasite/presentations/5bc3c5d04eed4a9bad12cf30ed2f2e081d Although some Americans support the death penalty, there remains an ongoing debate about its effectiveness as a deterrent against murder. Proponents of the death penalty say it is an important tool for preserving law and order, deters crime, and costs less than life imprisonment. They argue that retribution or "an eye for an eye" honors the victim, helps console grieving families, and ensures that the perpetrators of heinous crimes never have an opportunity to cause future tragedy. Opponents of capital punishment say it has no deterrent effect on crime, wrongly gives governments the power to take human life, and perpetuates social injustices by disproportionately targeting people of color (racist) and people who cannot afford good attorneys (classist). They say lifetime jail sentences are a more severe and less expensive punishment than death. Should the death penalty be allowed? Should the death penalty be allowed? Does the death penalty deter crime? Does a Person's race affect the likelihood of him/her receiving the death penalty? Notice there are essentially questions I ask you in order for you to get your head wrapped around the topic. When you write your response there is no need to write the question and answer it separately or to answer every single question. Write a discussion, a brief 150 to 200 word Main Post hitting the highlights. I have divided the class into groups of 8 students in each group. I believe this will make it easier to collaborate with your peers. Read the Discussion Participation Guidelines below prior to submission. This is the expectation for all discussions within this course. The Discussion Question will open on Monday, July 12, 2021 and close on Sunday, July 18, 2021, at 11:59 pm. No submissions will be accepted after this date. The goal of course is to provide a forum for an exchange of ideas. Rather than posting “mini papers,” course discussions are intended to simulate a live discussion with a comprehensive, supported response to the main post discussion prompts. Unless specifically requested to do so in the Discussion Question posting instructions, do not use attachments in your discussion postings. Your discussion postings will be graded via a Rubric. The Rubric serves as your Scoring Guide so make sure you follow it. You will submit your main post and responses in "WORD." Please do not attempt to submit a post in PDF format, it will not be accepted. Include substantive detail that builds and develops main post topics with well-supported positions, insight and perspective. Interaction should contribute to the discussion by asking questions after including context, respectfully debating positions, and presenting supporting information relevant to the topic. By July 15, 2021 11:59 PM (EST) Thursday, you need to submit your initial posting (Your Main Post) to each discussion question. You will be penalized every day past Thursday.