New Zealand Services to Support the Elderly

New Zealand Services to Support the Elderly Abstract Elderly care is a steady industry in New Zealand. It is one of the most stable industries in New Zealand because the New Zealand population is an old population. In light of this attempts to improve the geriatric care standards in New Zealand should always be a priority. Present services and healthcare organizations should always be reviewed and accredited to make sure that they are qualified and their services are not obsolete or redundant. Introduction There are different organizations which provide services to the elderly in New Zealand. We should take the time to know these organizations because since most of us work in a healthcare setting with a lot of geriatric clients, we should know the services that are made available to them. We should always provide accurate and useful information about the elderly care system in New Zealand because there are still a number of misconceptions about it. Question 1 a.) Age Concern NZ Age Concern NZ has 6 main services, and I will discuss three of the services. The first service is about eliminating the feeling of loneliness in elderly people. The purpose of this service is because most elderly people feel that they are neglected and abandoned by their families or the society. The effects of loneliness can have negative repercussions on the mental and physical health of elderly clients. They may often feel left out because they can no longer keep up with the fast paced world that we live in. Age Concern NZ is offering a service which includes visiting elderly clients and spending time with them. This can be a learning experience which can greatly benefit both the client and the volunteer. The client will no longer feel lonely and will somehow be alleviated from their feelings of isolation from the society. The volunteer will be able to learn and correct about some of the misconceptions that society has about the effects of aging, and will greatly make a positive i mpact on the elderly clients they are visiting. The second service that they offer is about Elderly Abuse. The elderly are especially susceptible to being victims of abuse because usually they are no longer at the peak of their physical and mental health, which is interpreted by others as a sign that they can abuse an elderly person and get away with it. What some people tend to forget is that elderly people still deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. I believe that elderly clients should always have a say in what they want and they should be given choices rather than other people deciding what is best for them, unless they are no longer able to decide what may or may not be good for them, or if they may inflict harm to themselves and to others if left to their own means. Some elderly people are also victims of exploitation because most of these people are looking for someone to help them care for themselves. There may be some people who are only showing love and support to these clients because they know that they can g et something from them in return or because they can manipulate their decisions. The company offers support to the people going through any form of elderly abuse and they educate people who work with elderly clients and their families about the different types of abuse and their warning signs. The third service is about the wellbeing of the elderly clients. If the clients are happy, have healthy relationships there is less risk for depression. Depression can be avoided even in the later years of life by promoting the wellbeing and happiness of the client. One way of promoting the happiness of a client is allowing him or her to continue doing his or her hobbies if it is still safe for him or her to do so. It minimizes the negative effects of aging and can make the client feel uplifted and empowered. We can also introduce new activities to emphasize the fact that we are never too old to try new experiences. b.) GreyPower GreyPower provides superannuation or what is more commonly known as pension. They try to provide a better level of pension to people aged 50 and above. They argue that what the pensioners are currently getting is not enough for them to live a relatively comfortable life in their old age. They are forced to make some compromises to their standards of living. One of the main problems that they are trying to solve is that when the prices of commodities go up, the pension stays the same. It does not adjust to the economy. What some of the people at GreyPower are trying to do is to lobby for the increase of pension as the costs of living in New Zealand also increase. They primarily focus on providing the adequate health needs of each pensioner and help them in being able to pay their electricity bills. c.) SuperGold Card The SuperGold Card is given to seniors and it gives the card holder certain discounts from different businesses, free public transportation, and free services from the local government. Residents who are 65 and above are eligible to avail the SuperGold Card. They can use the public transport system for free after the peak hours, which is an extremely useful benefit because public transport in New Zealand can be very expensive especially when you have to take 2 or more buses to get to where you want to go. They can also avail of discounts on petrol prices and when buying gadgets at certain electronics stores in New Zealand. I don’t know about you but this card makes me want to grow old! d.) Seniorline Seniorline promotes â€Å"Positive Ageing† and it is all about giving more attention to the elderly and still appreciating what they can do for our society. I will liken the elderly to the predators of the ecosystem. Most of us think they are nuances and dangerous but without them, there will be imbalances in nature. It’s the same with the elderly. They may seem like they have no use at all except for bothering us but they are excellent sources of wisdom and advice, and they are able to help us more than we think. e.) Global Action on Aging The Global Action on Aging does not offer any concrete services but they do one of the most important jobs towards the advancement of elderly rights and care, which is advocacy. They advocate for the rights of the elderly and in doing so, help prevent theft, abuse, and neglect of the elderly. Question 2 1.) Hospitals Hospitalization is the last resort for elderly patients because this means that there are complications with regards to the client’s health which cannot be handled at the rest home or the out-patient level. It is a risky place to be in as an elderly patient because aside from the reason for their hospitalization, there is a risk of nosocomial infection, which is an infection acquired in the hospital. Since elderly patients are at a higher risk of acquiring infections because of their decreased immunity, we should safeguard against these risks meticulously. The benefits of the elderly patient staying in hospital care are that the staff and are trained for any possibility or situation that may arise and they are equipped to respond to these situations, and it is easy to refer them to another department if it is needed. Another benefit is that if they experience a medical emergency, they do not need to be transported anymore to a facility which can cater to them because they are already in the hospital. They are also at less risk for falls because hospitals usually assign a watcher if a patient has an elevated risk for falls (confusion, disorientation, etc.) and the hospitals beds usually have side rails installed. The most important advantage that the hospital has is that it can assess the risks associated with a patient and in theory, they can prevent these risks from happening instead of having a client stay at his or her home, where most risks are not identified. These interventions can prolong the length of the life of the individual and elevate the standards of living that the patients enjoy and give the relatives of these patients some peace of mind knowing that most of the probable emergencies and scenarios are being prevented. 2.) Respite care Respite care is usually given during a stay in the hospital to take the pressure off the usual caregiver. It is usually a short-term arrangement and lasts about less than a month per year. It can be done in the hospital which is advantageous because the patient does not need to be transferred anymore and will save the patient time, money, and the energy which is required when moving from one healthcare facility to another. It can also be done at the home of the patient and an agency will provide care for the patient, which is also has its advantages one of which is that the patient will return to a familiar environment and may feel more relaxed during his stay at home. The potential disadvantage of this is that when a medical emergency occurs, the patients has to be taken back again to the hospital in short notice and the process may give unnecessary stress to the patient. 3.) Nursing homes Nursing homes are very popular here in New Zealand and are heavily subsidized by the government. Based on what I’ve heard from my friends and classmates, the elderly clients living in a nursing home are very relaxed and are well taken care of. They eat at the right time, have people to talk to, and it decreases the chance of them feeling alone and isolated. They are checked-up by a physician before being admitted to a nursing home because each client is unique and they need to find out what medications they need and the additional care that they may require. The staff working at nursing homes is also trained to deal with geriatric clients. These healthcare facilities also retain most of their staff and has a low rate of staff turnover to ensure that the continuity of care is established and maintained so that the patients will have less adjustment every time that there is a new staff member in the facility. 4.) Domiciliary Care In Domiciliary care, the patient is living in his own home but he is still being assisted by support workers in doing activities of daily living, which includes assisting with the personal care of the client, and accompanying the client in going to appointments, and helping the client in preparing meal. The family of the client should always be involved in planning his care because they are the ones who know the client the best and would know what he would want in a certain situation and they can then pass these information to the support worker assigned to the client. 5.) Pharmacists Pharmacists are essential since they educate the client in knowing what drugs to take and their indications, contraindications, side effects, and adverse effects. They also educate the client in knowing the different drug interactions so that they know if drugs are safe to take together and if they should take the drugs with meals or without. They also teach the client how to take the drugs when there is a special indication (sublingual, inhaler, etc.) needed to take the drug. They also educate the client in what they can’t and can do with the drugs, like splitting a tablet into two, and giving the client a complete printout of the schedule of the drugs. 6.) End of Life Support The client can choose where he wants to stay during the last days of his life. Whether it is in a nursing home, a hospital, or at home, the client deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. There is a type of care which we call palliative care. This type of care alleviates the symptoms of a certain client. For example, if the client is suffering from colon cancer and he suddenly obtains a cough or a flu, then the treatment of that cough or flu is part of the palliative care of that client. It is about maintaining the â€Å"quality of life† of the patient. Question 3 Social Isolation of the individual and their families Most of the elderly clients feel isolated from the community because most people don’t want anything to do with them due to the misconception that most people who are retired or over the age of 65 are fragile and weak people who will only be liabilities and not assets. This can lead to depression of the elder because he or she feels disconnected to the society and he or she may feel unwelcome by the world or the community that they grew up in. the family may feel that they are isolated because of the elderly patient who is with them and this pressure from society makes them disassociate themselves with the elder in their care, and in turn will make the individual more isolated. Assumption of automatic loss of independence Out of all the stigmas related to geriatric care, I think this is the one stigma that has the most impact on how individuals, families, and society as a whole view caring for the elderly. This has the most negative effect on how geriatric care is viewed because most people are unwilling to care for a fully dependent patient, not knowing that the patient can still perform activities of daily living. Family members and healthcare providers should try to help the patient maintain their skills for them not to be fully dependent on the people who are taking care of them. Unable to make decisions about own care One of the worst stigmas that elderly clients have to undergo is that there is the misconception that they can no longer decide for themselves and that they are merely living out the rest of their days. They are fully capable of making their own informed decisions about how healthcare professionals should handle their care plan and they should always have a say in their plan of care. Dissatisfying interactions with the medical community Unfortunately, this is a recurring problem in most medical fields not only in geriatrics. Sometimes members of the healthcare community do not have or do not take the time in talking to the clients and most will not explain properly to the patient what they are experiencing and what their options to treatment are and only expect other healthcare professionals to do it. This makes the patient confused and doubtful of how the medical community is treating him or her. This may lead to loss of established rapport between the healthcare providers and the patient because a healthcare professional did not have a few minutes to spare to talk to the client and reassure the client properly that the healthcare team will make sure that the client is comfortable and that the team will properly carry out all medical procedures with care and the client will be treated with dignity and respect at all times. Uncertainty of support services and treatments Due to the lack of time of some of the medical professionals in explaining treatment options and services to the patients, the client is now unsure of what will happen to him or what his plan of care is. The patient is kept in the dark about how his care will be handled by those assigned to take care of him. This is a fundamental flaw in providing care because the client should always be included in planning his care because he knows best what he wants and he should always be given choices on whether he wants a certain service or treatment and he should be given the right to decline the treatment or the service if he so chooses. Conclusion There are a lot of healthcare organizations in New Zealand that provide useful services to the elderly clients. Most of them are advocates of the elderly and prevent abuse and isolation. Some of them offer monetary benefits, discounts, and even free fare when using the public transport system. All are very useful especially because elderly clients usually only get their money from their pension. There are also a variety of healthcare facilities to choose from when choosing where the best place to receive care is. Each one has its own advantages and disadvantages and it is up to the individual, his family, and his healthcare provider to determine which facility will be the best for the needs of the client. Recommendation As person with experience working with geriatric clients, I recommend that the general public be properly educated about geriatric care. I believe that with proper education, we can eradicate most of the misconceptions surrounding geriatric care. I also recommend that we look into the current services provided to the elderly people here in New Zealand and find ways to improve on them. We can start by doing a survey of people ages 65 and above as to what they feel is needed so that we can get a better insight about their priorities and what services and benefits they want. Bibliography GreyPower. GreyPower History. (2008-2014) Retrieved from http://greypower.wpengine.com/history/ Age Concern. Accredited Visiting Service. Retrieved from http://www.ageconcern.org.nz/ACNZPublic/Home/Loneliness/ACNZ_Public/Loneliness_and_Social_Isolation.aspx Age Concern. Elder Abuse and Neglect Prevention. Retrieved from http://www.ageconcern.org.nz/ACNZPublic/Services/EANP/ACNZ_Public/Elder_Abuse_and_Neglect.aspx Age Concern. Wellbeing, Health and happiness. Retrieved from http://www.ageconcern.org.nz/ACNZPublic/Information/Wellbeing/ACNZ_Public/Wellbeing.aspx SuperGold. Retrieved from http://www.supergold.govt.nz/ Global Action on Aging. Elder Rights. (2004) Retrieved from http://www.globalaging.org/elderrights/index.htm Seniorline. Positive Ageing. Retrieved from http://www.adhb.govt.nz/SeniorLine/PositiveAgeing/Positive%20Ageing.htm Merck Sharp Dohme Corp. The Merck Manual, Respite Care. (2010-2014) Retrieved from http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/geriatrics/provision_of_care_to_the_elderly/respite_care.html Merck Sharp Dohme Corp. The Merck Manual, Hospital Care and the Elderly. (2010-2014) Retrieved from http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/geriatrics/provision_of_care_to_the_elderly/hospital_care_and_the_elderly.html Merck Sharp Dohme Corp. The Merck Manual, Skilled Nursing Facilities. (2010-2014) Retrieved from http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/geriatrics/provision_of_care_to_the_elderly/skilled_nursing_facilities.html Merck Sharp Dohme Corp. The Merck Manual, Assisted Living Programs. (2010-2014) Retrieved from http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/geriatrics/provision_of_care_to_the_elderly/assisted-living_programs.html Merck Sharp Dohme Corp. The Merck Manual, Pharmacists and the Elderly. (2010-2014) Retrieved from http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/geriatrics/provision_of_care_to_the_elderly/pharmacists_and_the_elderly.html National Institute on Aging. End of Life: Helping with Comfort and Care. Retrieved from http://www.nia.nih.gov/health/publication/end-life-helping-comfort-and-care/finding-care-end-life

Teaching as an Art or a Science Essay -- Arts Sciences Teaching Educat

Teaching as an Art or a Science Teaching: Is it an Art, or is it a science? I think that teaching requires both art and science. They both play a role on each other, because if a teacher only demonstrates one of these types of teaching, their classroom will most likely be very boring. Teaching as an art demonstrates ways in which the teacher may use creative ways to present the material so it is fun and interesting for his or her students. Some examples are games, â€Å"hands-on† activities, and/ or movies relating to the topics being covered. In The First Year, Genevieve DeBose gave disposable cameras to her students for a†getting to know each other† activity. The point of this activity was for her students to be creative and learn about their peers. During this activity Genevieve also learned about her students, like their attitudes toward participating and some of their social skills. She could use what she learned from this activity to help plan her lessons. I agree with Gilbert Highet, who argues that in â€Å"The Art of Teaching that successful teaching must be considered an art because it involves two things that cannot be objectively and systematically manipulated: emotions and values.† (Pg 11) I feel emotions play a main role i n teaching because the emotion that is being expressed by the teacher will be reflected on his or her students. Although emotions are some main roles, you must also make sure you are teaching the correct values. In order to be a good teacher ...

To Kill A Mockingbird - Who Is The Most Guilty :: To Kill a Mockingbird Essays

Who is the most guilty? Review the involvement’s of the characters in the novel and evaluate weather or not they were guilty, and if so how guilty? In the classic novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee there is an abundance of characters that could be proclaimed to be the guilty party, but who is truly the guiltiest one of all? The definition of guilt is as follows; the state of having done something wrong or committed an offense; a feeling of self-reproach from believing that one has done something wrong. My job is to examine the characters closely and determine who is the most guilty in the involvement’s of Tom Robinson’s prosecution, conviction and ultimately his death. As I stated, there is an abundance of characters that could be guilty, from Mayella and Bob Ewell, Heck Tate, to the jurors and Atticus Finch. All of these characters play a roll in the story, and a roll in the events that happened to Tom Robinson. The story is an interesting one, but guilty parties are found throughout. The story is set against the background of nineteen thirties Southern life. The Finches are a family that once ran a large, successful plantation. Their ancestors had been aristocratic ladies and gentlemen of the south. Now they are reduced to gentle poverty. Atticus and his family live in a town named Maycomb, he is a career layer. He has a son named Jeremy and a daughter named Jean-Louse. They also have a cook named Calpernia, she is a Negro but they respect her greatly. Racism in Maycomb is evident almost where ever you look, and Negro peoples don’t have a chance to succeed. A family that played a huge roll in the novel are named the Ewells. They live on the out skirts of town by the dump, near the Negro dwellings. The family consists of Bob, whom has a daughter named Mayella and several other siblings. In the context of the book, they are seen as no better than the Negro’s. There is a sheriff named Heck Tate, he is the one and only police officer in the small town, and a judge named Taylor, who in the end hands down Tom’s punishment. To Kill A Mockingbird deals with many primal and basic lessons in human nature. The book expresses many issues that affect people throughout there lives. The novel deals with what you feel inside, and I think that some of the characters, or at least, they should be feeling guilt inside.

Family Structure Trends in Europe Essay -- Papers Home Family Divorce

The implication for social policy as a result of the changing face of the ‘family’ has been enormous. In order to evaluate them adequately, I shall look at 4 main transitory factors which have had, and are continuing to have, implications for social policy, specifically within Europe. These are: Downward trend in marriages, the rise in single parent/lone parent families, increasing participation of women in the workforce and their consequent economical success, and the incessantly declining rate of fertility. The notion of family thirty years ago was relatively simple. A married couple, two children, an extended family in the form of grandparents and even a pet were seen as constituting the norm. One of the main factors that influenced the fragmentation of this image, in Britain at least, was the introduction of The Divorce Reform Act in 1969 (Glennester, pg 163). The immediate period after the introduction of this law, brought on by considerable pressure from feminists in the 1960s period of liberalism, witnessed a sudden influx in the number of women abandoning their marriages in search of bigger and better things. Married couples were increasingly becoming separate entities, and, over time, this pattern has altered to an extent that marriage is now losing its hold as an important social institution. Lewis (1992 In: Glennester Howard:British Social Policy since 1945 pp 164) made use of the Male Breadwinning Model to depict the belief system upon which social policies were initially formed; women were dependent upon the male, unlikely to participate in the labour work force after marriage and likely to remain in the domest... ...ng policies. The rising irregularities in family life can also be seen as a result of the contradictions within existing policies. Whereas on the one hand the state urges its members to show increasing participation in the labour force, it also encourages the maintenance of the traditional notions of 'family.' This requires females to remain at home and men to dominate in the financial domain, a lifestyle which is unlikely; financial requirements of raising children are now are so high that it needs dual work, which in turn increases individualisation, one primary reason the state is in a frenzy with regards to childcare. What is required is a balance between the two variations; the traditional and the new, but whether social policy can incorporate the new 'fluctuating' family into it's make up remains to be seen.

Letters Home Essay

She had been going around all over the place and Frederick was bound to be dragged in to the situation. I always knew it would only ever end in tragedy. Everyone was talking about her all over Rome. She would be seen all over the town with a different man on her arm every time. The Americans never had any respect for the culture in Europe. Maybe over there she would not have stood out, but her actions in Rome were not acceptable under any circumstances. Frederick is so naive. I could always see that he would end up being hurt by this girl, however, not quite in the way it turned out. Perhaps her death is for the best. Hopefully Frederick will not be so stupid next time he sees some common girl walking the streets. I’ll leave you now; my head is thumping again. These migraines come more and more often at the moment. I can only sit here and hope it will pass. Yours sincerely, Mrs. Costello Character study: Mrs. Costello is Winterbourne’s aunt and although also not originally from Europe she has a very European attitude to certain things. She refuses to mix with people who are lower in society than she is, for example the Millers. She can perhaps be seen as slightly pompous and she also seems to know everything that goes on behind the scenes. The letter is quite informal as Mrs. Costello is writing to her sister. She uses short sentences and is very critical. Rosalind Tamman 17 rue de Groggos Vevey Dear Rosalind, Since Daisy’s death, many things have changed in my life. I let her lead her life as she wished, never telling her what to do, and this is the consequence. I wrote to Mr. Miller informing of Daisy’s death and he rushed over to Rome immediately. I was very pleased to see him, as was Randolph. We have been to left to comfort each other since Daisy died, but my little boy stayed strong for me. Since daisy died, Randolph has been very quiet, saying little and responding politely to my instructions without question. He was pleased to see his father, but he is clearly saddened without his sister around. He is so young to be subject to such misery. Mr. Miller showed little emotion when he came to Rome, but we have now gone back to Schenectady. Randolph and I would not have been able to cope on out own without our dearest Annie. It seems we had few friends in Europe, so we are glad to be back in Schenectady. I can only blame myself for Daisy’s death. I should have held her back at times when she wanted to go out. Mr. Winterbourne was a nice man. Maybe I should have stopped her seeing Mr. Giovanelli. My life feels so empty without Daisy. I would do anything to bring her back. Randolph is growing up, but we will never be able to replace Daisy. We are all missing her dearly, but perhaps we knew the end was inevitable. She was always going around all over the place. She was bound to get the fever sometime. Perhaps I should have done something, said something, but now it is all too late. Yours, Mrs. Miller Character study: Mrs. Miller is mother of Randolph and Daisy. She is a very nervous and ill woman and this can be seen in the letter. Due to her lack of control over Daisy’s actions, she is seen as low class and a bad mother. This letter is very personal and emotional after Daisy’s death. It is intimate and informal, perhaps showing a lack of class in the language and informality. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

Origin of babies Essay

Once, there is young man who wished to have a good life, a great family he can call his own and offspring that he wanted to share his life with. During his bachelorhood, he would usually sit on his patio and think of these things. Years went by and he was able to marry the love of his life, the queen of his heart. He shared with her, his dreams when he was still a bachelor and together, they made that single simple dream come true. Under the clear blue sky of Paris, they both decided to have a family of their own, raise kids and be good parents. Soon after, their dream materialized and was blessed with a son. Being the kind of man that he his, he wants to raise his son the same way that his parents did to me. He would read to his son stories that deal with bravery, courage and respect to others. They were both a loving parent to their son they would give him all that he want if it is the best for him. When he was a year older, his father wants to mold his son into the kind of man that he is. They would often go out together and enjoy things that boys really do enjoy. Years and years passed, the son was already full-grown. He had finished college, had a secure job and is intending to marry his college girlfriend. They got married after several months of preparation and eventually bore their own child and a grandchild to their parents. The life cycle was already completed. The cycle of human life is chain and so it needs to be fulfilled step-by-step in order to arrive at the finish line. Upon the birth of their son, they were able to satisfy their urge of having a child and raise it the same that their parents did to them. They were able to fulfill the dream of their parents’ who wanted to see little children running around the lawn.

The Death Penalty

The Death Penalty â€Å"If we fail to execute murderers, and doing so would in fact have deterred other murders, we have allowed the killing of a bunch of innocent victims. I would much rather risk the former. This, to me, is not a tough call. † (McAdams) The death penalty should be legalized in all fifty states, to avert from crime, keep repeat offenders off of the streets, and to reduce taxpayers the cost of keeping those found guilty of heinous crimes in prison low. The death penalty can in fact deter heinous crimes from being committed when it is lawful in a state. Social scientists have stated that the act of general deterrence, which is when the punishment deters potential criminals from committing crimes, keeps criminals from going through with crimes. However, it is more shown that premeditated crimes are usually the ones stopped by general deterrence, not crimes under passion. Heinous crimes have been reduced highly in the states that have a capital punishment law. The death penalty keeps repeat offenders off of the streets. In Michigan a case that represents this happened; â€Å"A man who was hired by Honeywell Inc. , after serving four years in prison for strangling a co-worker has been charged with killing another co-worker and a woman he allegedly stalked and threatened for weeks† (Sullum personal file). Had the death penalty been allowed in Michigan the woman’s life could have been sparred, for the male who murdered her would have been executed long before and never had the chance to murder her. The death penalty may be a long process, but it does not give those on death row a hope of parole. By having the heinous criminals in prisons on death row keeps them from repeating crimes. In five out of seven cases it is said that criminals will once again commit crimes once released from prison of jail. The death penalty keeps the criminals in jail and executes them. This protects the general public from murderous crimes from repeat offenders. The death penalty also keeps taxpayers costs low, because the prison looses members in which the state taxes would have to pay for. The citizens of the state pay for the prisoners, and my eliminating the criminals jailed for heinous crimes reduces cost by a high percent. The average cost per year per prison is about $1 billion. By enforcing the death penalty and making it lawful can reduce that cost by almost half. Half does not sound like much in such large terms, but in reality it is an immense amount of money that the taxpayers can be using somewhere else. Struggling families still have to pay for imprisoned criminals and the death penalty can in turn have more money in that home, because it would not be put towards the prison. There is another side to the death penalty, however. Most people believe the death penalty is immoral and unjust. Some say that the idea of â€Å"an eye for an eye† should not apply to the death penalty. Capital punishment is still an act of murder, which is punishable by law. This is a major argument of those against capital punishment. There are also religious views that keep many opposed of the death penalty. Christians view the death penalty as wrong because of the fact that killing a killer is still killing, which is a sin that breaks one of the Ten Commandments. The large population of Christians in the United States keeps the vote against capital punishment high, because this nation was built on that faith and it is also the highest religion in the nation. The death penalty keeps taxpayers cost low, keeps repeat offenders off of the street, and deters heinous crime, and therefore should be made lawful in all fifty states of the United States of America. The Death Penalty The Death Penalty: It is Never Justified A young man has been charged with the brutal murder of a seventeen year old girl after raping and mutilating her body. This crime was so heinous and unthinkable that the only punishment that seems to fit the crime is capital punishment; there is merely one problem†the man convicted is innocent. The public is so caught up in bringing Justice to the murdered girl that through capital punishment more injustice is brought into the world and the life of another innocent being is taken. There is no going back and undoing the mistake.There is no undoing in the matter of death. The accidental murder of an innocent person through the death penalty is Just one way in which the death penalty is a completely unethical, flawed, and unjustified form of punishment. Problems associated with the death penalty such as it being inhumane, discriminatory, and an unfair form of punishment, are reasons that capital punishment is never the answer to aggravated murder [claim]. The death penalty is extremely inhumane. Three common techniques used to perform the sentence include the electric chair, gas chambers, and lethal injection.Supporters of the death penalty argue that modern science has eliminated the factor of pain by lethal injection [rebuttal], but how can this truly be proved? The scientific journal the Nature Publishing Group [backing] reported that almost half the prisoners are still conscious although paralyzed during the lethal injection as the drug stops the heart. The NPG then goes on to state, â€Å"If suitably qualified individuals refuse to help prepare a new protocol, the state will face the prospect of continuing to use amateurs to kill people with arbitrary and outmoded technology' (â€Å"Amateur† 2) [evidence].Dying is a painful thing. The punishment of death is already extreme, but the fact that the prisoner is being put down with chemicals that aren't even provided by physicians or scientists is cruel and la cks any compassion. Andrew Stephen, the United States editor of the New Statesman magazine which reports on current affairs, [backing] also explained the inhumanity of the most humane form of capital punishment: lethal injection. Stephen explained how the potassium chloride used in the injection causes excruciating pain as it makes its way through the veins and into the heart to kill the person.Stephen follows this by stating, â€Å"The American Veterinary Medical Association even issued guidelines in 2002 saying that the mix was unacceptable for putting dogs and cats, let alone humans, to sleep† (Stephen 33) [evidence]. How can a democracy in the U. S. which stands for Justice possibly support this blatantly inhumane form of punishment that isn't even suitable for animals? There is no way to properly kill a human being, it is immoral and unjust not matter who it is done to, and therefore does not hold a place in the U. S. Jurisdiction.The death penalty can also be very arbit rary or random in the sense that there is ot a set standard for everyone who commits murder to be sentenced to death. It makes little sense how some prisoners who are convicted of terrible murders get the privilege of living while others who did not murder in cold blood do not get the opportunity for rehabilitation and redemption. The cause of such arbitrariness can be attributed to discrimination. David Bruck, who was a Harvard and University of South Carolina graduate, served as a lawyer detending those charged witn capita punishment [backing].Bruck illustrates how unfair capital punishment is in an essay he wrote for The New Republic magazine. Bruck explains how a man from Louisiana named Ernest Knighton killed a gas station owner while robbing the gas station. This is of course a terrible crime; however, the crime was not premeditated and pales in comparison to other gruesome murders, yet somehow Knighton was chosen to be executed. This may be explained by the fact that Knighton was black, the victim was white, the Jury at his hearing was entirely white, and he lacked sufficient defense.In other words, discrimination was a factor. Bruck explains this execution by stating, â€Å"Ernest Knighton was picked out to die the way a fisherman takes a cricket out of a ait Jar. No one cares which cricket gets impaled on the hook† (Bruck NPA) [evidence]. There were clearly more threatening murderers out there than Knighton, but Knighton was chosen to die. The chance that this kind of discrimination will continue is entirely possible [modal qualifier] and illustrates the faults in the system of capital punishment.However, in cases such as capital punishment where death is involved, there is no room for faults. Life is a precious gift not to be taken lightly. Money also seems to be a discriminatory factor in the death penalty, as rich eople are more likely to avoid the death penalty than are poor people who cannot afford proper defense. A rich murderer's life is no more valuable than the life of a poor murderer, yet the chance of survival for a poor man is much lower than that of a rich man. This harsh fact is unfair.Scott Phillips author for the Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology [backing] writes, â€Å"As Former Supreme Court Justice William Douglas, for example, noted: ‘One searches our chronicles in vain for the execution of any member of the affluent strata of this society† (Phillips 718) [evidence]. It is efinitely plausible [modal qualifier] that the people who have money are the ones who can afford the best defense and therefore avoid the death penalty. It hardly seems fair that the rich get to live over the poor not because of innocence, but because of the size of their wallets.Two wrongs do not make a right under the conditions of murder. The system of capital punishment is obviously defective as it discriminates and seemingly picks its victims at random, risking the possibility of killing even the innocent. Advoc ates of the death penalty argue that it is the only form of punishment that is orthy of murder [rebuttal]. This is an â€Å"eye for an eye† mentality. Edward Koch, the former mayor of New York [backing], supported this mentality by stating, â€Å".. it can be easily demonstrated that the death penalty strengthens the value of human life. If the penalty for rape were lowered, clearly it would signal a lessened regard for the victim's suffering.. .When we lower the penalty for murder, it signals a lessened regard for the value of the victim's life† (Koch NPA) [evidence]. Koch's statement is a fallacy of a false analogy and is therefore not plausible [modal qualifier]. No two rimes can really be compared to each other. Rape and murder are admittedly two very horrific offenses, but are in no way the same.We do not rape the criminals charged of rape to show them how it feels, nor should we kill the criminals charged of murder. Killing the prisoner makes us no better than th e prisoner himself. Instead of capital punishment, there should be harsher punishments in Jail for those convicted of murder, Just as those convicted of rape have harsher punishments than those convicted ot tnett. Another argument supporters of the death penalty like to utilize is that killing a uman being is okay because it is done by the state, which has more rights, rather than an individual [rebuttal].Koch makes the point when he writes, â€Å"The execution of a lawfully condemned killer is no more an act of murder than is legal imprisonment an act of kidnapping†¦ Rights and responsibilities surrendered by the individual are what give the state the power to govern† ( Koch NPA) [evidence]. This is once again a fallacy of a false analogy. Of course legal imprisonment is not kidnapping, because it is an agreed upon punishment by the people of a democracy for those who have roken the laws of society. On the contrary, capital punishment is not entirely agreed upon because this punishment is too harsh.Capital punishment is not necessary to govern its people; if the state must resort to the killing of individuals by the death penalty which has already been proven faulty, there are greater issues at hand. In the end, those who wish for capital punishment aren't really wishing for Justice, or to keep order. Justice and order can be achieved with without the killing of prisoners. It is rather unjust to inflict the death penalty, its only purpose to serve as a orm of bitter revenge that one can only hope will avenge the death of the lost person.However, it is not the place of the state to take revenge, but to bring Justice. Justice needs to be fair, humane, morally sound, and it needs to be reasonable. The death penalty in no way fits into any of those descriptions. This is a topic that should concern everyone. If the people of the United States allow for the death penalty, and the legal system makes a completely possible and at some point probable [modal qualifier] mistake and wrongfully sentences an innocent man to death, that death is on each and every person who advocates the death penalty. The Death Penalty The Death Penalty: It is Never Justified A young man has been charged with the brutal murder of a seventeen year old girl after raping and mutilating her body. This crime was so heinous and unthinkable that the only punishment that seems to fit the crime is capital punishment; there is merely one problem†the man convicted is innocent. The public is so caught up in bringing Justice to the murdered girl that through capital punishment more injustice is brought into the world and the life of another innocent being is taken. There is no going back and undoing the mistake.There is no undoing in the matter of death. The accidental murder of an innocent person through the death penalty is Just one way in which the death penalty is a completely unethical, flawed, and unjustified form of punishment. Problems associated with the death penalty such as it being inhumane, discriminatory, and an unfair form of punishment, are reasons that capital punishment is never the answer to aggravated murder [claim]. The death penalty is extremely inhumane. Three common techniques used to perform the sentence include the electric chair, gas chambers, and lethal injection.Supporters of the death penalty argue that modern science has eliminated the factor of pain by lethal injection [rebuttal], but how can this truly be proved? The scientific journal the Nature Publishing Group [backing] reported that almost half the prisoners are still conscious although paralyzed during the lethal injection as the drug stops the heart. The NPG then goes on to state, â€Å"If suitably qualified individuals refuse to help prepare a new protocol, the state will face the prospect of continuing to use amateurs to kill people with arbitrary and outmoded technology' (â€Å"Amateur† 2) [evidence].Dying is a painful thing. The punishment of death is already extreme, but the fact that the prisoner is being put down with chemicals that aren't even provided by physicians or scientists is cruel and la cks any compassion. Andrew Stephen, the United States editor of the New Statesman magazine which reports on current affairs, [backing] also explained the inhumanity of the most humane form of capital punishment: lethal injection. Stephen explained how the potassium chloride used in the injection causes excruciating pain as it makes its way through the veins and into the heart to kill the person.Stephen follows this by stating, â€Å"The American Veterinary Medical Association even issued guidelines in 2002 saying that the mix was unacceptable for putting dogs and cats, let alone humans, to sleep† (Stephen 33) [evidence]. How can a democracy in the U. S. which stands for Justice possibly support this blatantly inhumane form of punishment that isn't even suitable for animals? There is no way to properly kill a human being, it is immoral and unjust not matter who it is done to, and therefore does not hold a place in the U. S. Jurisdiction.The death penalty can also be very arbit rary or random in the sense that there is ot a set standard for everyone who commits murder to be sentenced to death. It makes little sense how some prisoners who are convicted of terrible murders get the privilege of living while others who did not murder in cold blood do not get the opportunity for rehabilitation and redemption. The cause of such arbitrariness can be attributed to discrimination. David Bruck, who was a Harvard and University of South Carolina graduate, served as a lawyer detending those charged witn capita punishment [backing].Bruck illustrates how unfair capital punishment is in an essay he wrote for The New Republic magazine. Bruck explains how a man from Louisiana named Ernest Knighton killed a gas station owner while robbing the gas station. This is of course a terrible crime; however, the crime was not premeditated and pales in comparison to other gruesome murders, yet somehow Knighton was chosen to be executed. This may be explained by the fact that Knighton was black, the victim was white, the Jury at his hearing was entirely white, and he lacked sufficient defense.In other words, discrimination was a factor. Bruck explains this execution by stating, â€Å"Ernest Knighton was picked out to die the way a fisherman takes a cricket out of a ait Jar. No one cares which cricket gets impaled on the hook† (Bruck NPA) [evidence]. There were clearly more threatening murderers out there than Knighton, but Knighton was chosen to die. The chance that this kind of discrimination will continue is entirely possible [modal qualifier] and illustrates the faults in the system of capital punishment.However, in cases such as capital punishment where death is involved, there is no room for faults. Life is a precious gift not to be taken lightly. Money also seems to be a discriminatory factor in the death penalty, as rich eople are more likely to avoid the death penalty than are poor people who cannot afford proper defense. A rich murderer's life is no more valuable than the life of a poor murderer, yet the chance of survival for a poor man is much lower than that of a rich man. This harsh fact is unfair.Scott Phillips author for the Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology [backing] writes, â€Å"As Former Supreme Court Justice William Douglas, for example, noted: ‘One searches our chronicles in vain for the execution of any member of the affluent strata of this society† (Phillips 718) [evidence]. It is efinitely plausible [modal qualifier] that the people who have money are the ones who can afford the best defense and therefore avoid the death penalty. It hardly seems fair that the rich get to live over the poor not because of innocence, but because of the size of their wallets.Two wrongs do not make a right under the conditions of murder. The system of capital punishment is obviously defective as it discriminates and seemingly picks its victims at random, risking the possibility of killing even the innocent. Advoc ates of the death penalty argue that it is the only form of punishment that is orthy of murder [rebuttal]. This is an â€Å"eye for an eye† mentality. Edward Koch, the former mayor of New York [backing], supported this mentality by stating, â€Å".. it can be easily demonstrated that the death penalty strengthens the value of human life. If the penalty for rape were lowered, clearly it would signal a lessened regard for the victim's suffering.. .When we lower the penalty for murder, it signals a lessened regard for the value of the victim's life† (Koch NPA) [evidence]. Koch's statement is a fallacy of a false analogy and is therefore not plausible [modal qualifier]. No two rimes can really be compared to each other. Rape and murder are admittedly two very horrific offenses, but are in no way the same.We do not rape the criminals charged of rape to show them how it feels, nor should we kill the criminals charged of murder. Killing the prisoner makes us no better than th e prisoner himself. Instead of capital punishment, there should be harsher punishments in Jail for those convicted of murder, Just as those convicted of rape have harsher punishments than those convicted ot tnett. Another argument supporters of the death penalty like to utilize is that killing a uman being is okay because it is done by the state, which has more rights, rather than an individual [rebuttal].Koch makes the point when he writes, â€Å"The execution of a lawfully condemned killer is no more an act of murder than is legal imprisonment an act of kidnapping†¦ Rights and responsibilities surrendered by the individual are what give the state the power to govern† ( Koch NPA) [evidence]. This is once again a fallacy of a false analogy. Of course legal imprisonment is not kidnapping, because it is an agreed upon punishment by the people of a democracy for those who have roken the laws of society. On the contrary, capital punishment is not entirely agreed upon because this punishment is too harsh.Capital punishment is not necessary to govern its people; if the state must resort to the killing of individuals by the death penalty which has already been proven faulty, there are greater issues at hand. In the end, those who wish for capital punishment aren't really wishing for Justice, or to keep order. Justice and order can be achieved with without the killing of prisoners. It is rather unjust to inflict the death penalty, its only purpose to serve as a orm of bitter revenge that one can only hope will avenge the death of the lost person.However, it is not the place of the state to take revenge, but to bring Justice. Justice needs to be fair, humane, morally sound, and it needs to be reasonable. The death penalty in no way fits into any of those descriptions. This is a topic that should concern everyone. If the people of the United States allow for the death penalty, and the legal system makes a completely possible and at some point probable [modal qualifier] mistake and wrongfully sentences an innocent man to death, that death is on each and every person who advocates the death penalty. The Death Penalty The Death Penalty â€Å"If we fail to execute murderers, and doing so would in fact have deterred other murders, we have allowed the killing of a bunch of innocent victims. I would much rather risk the former. This, to me, is not a tough call. † (McAdams) The death penalty should be legalized in all fifty states, to avert from crime, keep repeat offenders off of the streets, and to reduce taxpayers the cost of keeping those found guilty of heinous crimes in prison low. The death penalty can in fact deter heinous crimes from being committed when it is lawful in a state. Social scientists have stated that the act of general deterrence, which is when the punishment deters potential criminals from committing crimes, keeps criminals from going through with crimes. However, it is more shown that premeditated crimes are usually the ones stopped by general deterrence, not crimes under passion. Heinous crimes have been reduced highly in the states that have a capital punishment law. The death penalty keeps repeat offenders off of the streets. In Michigan a case that represents this happened; â€Å"A man who was hired by Honeywell Inc. , after serving four years in prison for strangling a co-worker has been charged with killing another co-worker and a woman he allegedly stalked and threatened for weeks† (Sullum personal file). Had the death penalty been allowed in Michigan the woman’s life could have been sparred, for the male who murdered her would have been executed long before and never had the chance to murder her. The death penalty may be a long process, but it does not give those on death row a hope of parole. By having the heinous criminals in prisons on death row keeps them from repeating crimes. In five out of seven cases it is said that criminals will once again commit crimes once released from prison of jail. The death penalty keeps the criminals in jail and executes them. This protects the general public from murderous crimes from repeat offenders. The death penalty also keeps taxpayers costs low, because the prison looses members in which the state taxes would have to pay for. The citizens of the state pay for the prisoners, and my eliminating the criminals jailed for heinous crimes reduces cost by a high percent. The average cost per year per prison is about $1 billion. By enforcing the death penalty and making it lawful can reduce that cost by almost half. Half does not sound like much in such large terms, but in reality it is an immense amount of money that the taxpayers can be using somewhere else. Struggling families still have to pay for imprisoned criminals and the death penalty can in turn have more money in that home, because it would not be put towards the prison. There is another side to the death penalty, however. Most people believe the death penalty is immoral and unjust. Some say that the idea of â€Å"an eye for an eye† should not apply to the death penalty. Capital punishment is still an act of murder, which is punishable by law. This is a major argument of those against capital punishment. There are also religious views that keep many opposed of the death penalty. Christians view the death penalty as wrong because of the fact that killing a killer is still killing, which is a sin that breaks one of the Ten Commandments. The large population of Christians in the United States keeps the vote against capital punishment high, because this nation was built on that faith and it is also the highest religion in the nation. The death penalty keeps taxpayers cost low, keeps repeat offenders off of the street, and deters heinous crime, and therefore should be made lawful in all fifty states of the United States of America.