Is the Death Penalty Effective Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Is the Death Penalty Effective - Research Paper Example Rather, it is an economic drain for most of the states in our country that continue to use it as their severest form of criminal punishment. It also provides an emotional and psychological release for the criminal who suffers the most in death row. We all have a right to life. We all have the right to change the way of life that we chose to lead in the past. Nobody ever wants to willingly live a life of crime. Some people, or most hardened criminals like Charles Manson, prove to have psychological shortcomings that have driven them into such a horrific lifestyle. With that kind of information on hand for anyone to see and read about, one can only come to the conclusion that the death penalty is a punishment that is outmoded and irrelevant when dealing with criminals. Rather than killing these people, prisons should make more effective use of their criminal rehabilitation programs instead. Opting to keep the most dangerous criminals under lock and key for the rest of their lives witho ut a chance of getting a parole rather than trying to right a crime with another crime. Let's call a spade a spade in this case. The death penalty has never been an effective crime deterrent. The states that implement them such as Florida, California, and Texas still have high crime rates with murder rates still on the rise. These aforementioned states have seen a reduction in their police force and a trimming down of their prison budgets all because the state budget cannot afford to keep the law enforcement team on the payroll the way they need to be. But, and this is what boggles the minds of most thinking people who live in these states, the fact remains that these very same states manage to spend millions of dollars of the state budget in implementing death penalty actions. Case in point: Before the Los Angeles riots, for example, California had little money for innovations like community policing, but was managing to spend an extra $90 million per year on capital punishment. Te xas, with over 300 people on death row, is spending an estimated $2.3 million per case, but its murder rate remains one of the highest in the country. (Dieter, Richard â€Å"What Politicians Don't Say About the High Costs of the Death Penalty†) Keeping the above costing in mind, it is sufficient enough to say that Capital Punishment as we know it is actually making America a dangerous place to live in. When a country, or a state for that matter, pours out so much of its budget on the death penalty while their crime prevention measures and law enforcers suffer with meager budgets or a slash of employed police officers, one can only deduce that something is very wrong with the way people of the state view their safety concerns and strategies. Why do some states continue to enforce the death penalty when it has a f cheaper alternative? By placing a criminal in prison for life, without parole. we prevent the clogging of our judicial system with motion after motion for reconsidera tion on behalf of the sentenced death row convict. Capital punishment trials are one of the most costly trials that can be had by any accused most specially since there is a huge

Religion in Pop Culture Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Religion in Pop Culture - Term Paper Example The vision of religion in the new light, when it is a component of the pop culture raises a lot of questions: whether it is right or wrong to popularize images of Jesus Christ or God Mother or other religious images. The most known reflections of religion in pop culture can be traced in the creative works of Lady Gaga. If we talk about this singer, we can see that lately this popular singer is really obsessed with religious images and she always is looking for an opportunity to promote religious images. In her interviews she claims that she is a too religious and spiritual person, but when we watch her videos we can have many doubts. Still, I am also impressed by her video on the song â€Å"Born This Way†. Lady Gaga is not the first one, who tries to reflect her ideas of love and faith by means of using different religious allusions and metaphors. There are humane and good lines in the song â€Å"Born This Way†, when the singer says: â€Å"I’m beautiful in my wa y because God makes no mistakes†. This is a righteous interpretation of religion. Nevertheless, allusions used are really impressive and we can think about the moment of birth. Her videos are always ambiguous. For example, the most impressive clip for me is â€Å"Judas†. Thus, in her video â€Å"Judas† we can see that â€Å"Jesus is my virtue / but Judas is the demon I cling to† and these lines imply a potential sinful behavior of too religious people. These controversial songs and videos impress me by their potential to strike my imagination. I try to guess, which are the real intentions of Lady Gaga songs? I came across the images of a sinful Magdalena in â€Å"Judas† and innocent â€Å"Venus† in this video. Moreover, Gaga does not only reflect her own religious beliefs, she also tries to bring in a kind of burlesque and kitsch to her religious interpretations†¦for example in her video â€Å"Judas† there are striking images of a nun, who is dreaming about sex with men, or when Lady Gaga tries to make a shot with her gun, but in reality it turns out to be a lipstick. Another demonstration of religion in pop culture is representation of religious ideas in clothes. For example, pink T-shirts with a cartoon kitten purring â€Å"Jesus loves me†. Religion is a kind of a trend in the modern world. Madonna and Pam Anderson wear T-shirts with the line â€Å"Mary is My Homegirl†. Such kind of T-shirts is an attempt to make people think about religious issues. We do not have enough time to visit Church and for some people it is a kind of showing off their religious beliefs. To my mind this strategy is fashionable, but it should not be kitschy as it is. As a rule priests argue with popularization of religion and blame Lady Gaga for her profanity. Popular films also reflect the fashionable religious ideas and beliefs. For example, the film by Mel Gibson â€Å"The Passion of the Christ† is very popu lar or â€Å"Joan of Arcadia,† a film story about the girl on who talks to God won attraction of the audience. Nowadays religion is a modern brand. It sounds like the world has gone wild, but it is really so. Popular slogans promote religion, but in a different way, which seems natural for people. For example, we can see that it is easier and more pleasant for people to wear T-shirts with