Jeff Jacoby Essay

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Jeff Jacoby, a columnist for the Boston Globe, in his essay, “Bring Back Flogging,” (Feb 20, 1997) argues that flogging should be brought back to replace the conventional method of the imprisonment of non-violent offenders since it is cheaper. Jacoby supports his argument by describing how prisoners only treat prison like a graduate school of criminal studies and they become even more ruthless, at the same time he also mentioned that flogging will be a better choice money wise. His purpose is to persuade the readers that flogging is a better capital punishment compared to imprisoning convicts. David Cole establishes an ironic and knowledgeable tone with his audience of people in superior position and the civilians. Even though I think flogging is humiliating and painful, it is clearly a much easier and cheaper way of locking up a criminal rather than putting them in prison, and that we should consider bringing it back for non-violent crimes. In Jacoby’s article, "Bring Back Flogging," he talks to the readers about the flaws of today's criminal justice system and tries to persuade them to bring back flogging as a punishment for some crimes and other instances. Jacoby’s thesis is directly in his title “Bring Back Flogging”. His title is an attention grabber and it also makes the us think about his essay. He starts his essay with a knowledge on the puritans justice system, and how they dealt with criminals back in the old days. By starting off so clearly on what he firmly believes in, it gives us a better understanding of what to look forward for in his essay that might support his thesis. He gives some examples of punishments that were popular over 150 years ago. Jacoby mentions about how puritans pierced tongues with a hot iron and whipping as a form of punishment. After that he talks about how now we practice a more humane way of disciplining criminals and convicts.
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