My Debate Topic
The death penalty should be reinstated in Canada.
| Pro | Con |
| Taylor J | Mars |
| Taylor E | Brianna |
The other side said that the death penalty is a deterrent and listed about four places in the world that they said had the death penalty and low death rates to prove this, however they failed to take into consideration that to properly do a study to try and prove that the death penalty stops citizens from committing crimes we need to look at the world as a whole and not just pick out certain places which have the death penalty and happen to have low crime rates as well. Doing this doesn’t account for all the places that have abolished capital punishment and have low crime rates like Denmark and Switzerland. No studies have been done that can support the claim that the death penalty works as a deterrent.
My Debate Reflection
In our debate unit while I was beginning to write my rebuttal I realized I would need to do some research of the other side so I could prepare for what I was going to say, while I was researching the other side I learned much more about the topic that I didn’t hear about before, this is because the articles and information I was taking in was by people who were very against capital punishment so some information was not given, that being said the new articles that were extremely pro death penalty also left out some important factors you would want to look at, however I think its important we hear every side. Debating helped me learn that when you want to fully learn about a topic its important to look at different perspectives of it rather than maybe only ever hearing a certain groups opinion on it.
The Best Resource I Found
Canada, Public Safety. Indigenous People in Federal Custody Surpasses 30% Correctional Investigator Issues Statement and Challenge. 21 Jan. 2020, https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2020/01/indigenous-people-in-federal-custody-surpasses-30-correctional-investigator-issues-statement-and-challenge.html.
I chose this as my best resource because this article talks about the undeniable issue Canada has with racism in our legal system. I think this is important with the death penalty debate because if we were to reinstate this in Canada black and indigenous people will be targeted by this and therefore die at disproportionate rates.
My Favorite Quote
“Also, people don’t commit crimes expecting to be caught and do you honestly think any person who was seriously thinking about committing mass murder would not do it because there scarred of the death penalty, I don’t think so”
I chose this as my quote because I think it worked well in my rebuttal. I wanted to steer away from just reading the judges and listeners a whole bunch of statistics and websites and instead give them good reasons why there arguments do not hold much merit.
Works Cited
Government of Canada, Department of Justice. Indigenous Overrepresentation in the Criminal Justice System – JustFacts. 9 Sept. 2019, https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/jf-pf/2019/may01.html.
Canada, Public Safety. Indigenous People in Federal Custody Surpasses 30% Correctional Investigator Issues Statement and Challenge. 21 Jan. 2020, https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2020/01/indigenous-people-in-federal-custody-surpasses-30-correctional-investigator-issues-statement-and-challenge.html.
Press ·, The Canadian. “Canada Failing Black, Indigenous Prisoners as Overrepresentation Persists: Report | CBC News.” CBC, 2 Nov. 2022, https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-black-indigenous-prisoners-overrepresentation-1.6636962.
Government of Canada, Statistics Canada. Police-Reported Crime Statistics in Canada, 2021. 2 Aug. 2022, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2022001/article/00013-eng.htm.
“ThoughtCo.Com Is the World’s Largest Education Resource.” ThoughtCo, https://www.thoughtco.com/. Accessed 2 June 2023.
Core Competency Reflection
My strategies for collecting relevant information when I researched for my debate include looking at what year the data was collected in, what websites I’m using and to look at the people who are conducting these studies and how reliable they are.
One of the ways I ensure my partner and I are clear on the common purpose is to communicate and read each others speeches so we knew who was saying what so we do not spend time going over things that have already been said.
I used to think it would cost more money to house an inmate for a life sentence rather then killing them, and now I know that it costs more money to house and execute a death row inmate because the long awaited trials cost us more money the long period of time the individual will spend incarcerated awaiting these trials cost us money and actually executing the person cost us money in resources and someone who now must do this.
An example of an idea I developed that was not likely considered by my opposition was the fact that not all people who have there loved ones killed want the death penalty for the person responsible. Studies show it fails to bring closure and many of them do not want another person dead and the long trials that will come with this process are extremely difficult on the loved ones of the victim.