Argument and Persuasion

Meaning
Koch's thesis is that all life is precious and that the death penalty helps to support it and to keep those that would do it harm at bay and protect its preciousness. That if the death penalty had even been a consideration in the murderers mind before the crimes were committed, then the murderers might not have committed them at all.
For the issue about capital punishment as a deterrent to murder Koch used the case where a man named Richard Biegenwald was released from prison after 18 yrs. for murder and committed 4 more since his release. He also used the case of Lemuel Smith who, while serving 6 life sentences killed a corrections officer and that most convicts of murder have murdered before. For the issue about capital punishment as a form of justice Koch argues that the death penalty strengthens the value of human life and the lowering for the penalty of murder would signal a lesser regard for the value of the victims life and that philosophers, such as Kant, Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Mill, all agreed that natural law authorizes the sovereign to take life in order to vindicate justice. Each issue relates back to the thesis under the premise that all life is sacred and that the death penalty helps support that fact.

Purpose and Audience
1. From my perspective it does seem like his view is political. It does seem like he is trying to persuade the audience to agree with him, but at the same time it seems like he is answering a question that you might hear in a presidential debate, that its rehearsed and instead of just getting the audience to merely agree, that he wants us to hop on the band wagon and follow him.
2. I don't think that he expects the audience to agree with him so he deploys a tactic that doesn't try to gain sympathy but get us to hear what he has to say. That is why he starts off with evidence and the story of the murderer trying to preach ethics and morality to everyone, to make the murderer seem insane for telling the audience what to do and deceitful and probably better off dead.
3. To fight for justice, help those that are in need and not to ignore pleas for help and to look the other way. That is the same thing that help kill Kitty Genovese and why he explains people want rights but don't the responsibility that come with those rights.

Method and Structure
The appeals that I find are most effective are the examples he use to convey that if any of the murderers used in his argument were put to death, then that would have definitely prevented them from murdering again.
The syllogism is that if the courts found both Willie and Shaw worthy of the death penalty that the state, the courts and the people who ran them were no better than both Willie and Shaw, because the state would be committing "murder" to show that murder was wrong. Koch says that what individual gives up certain right for the state to govern properly, giving that if an individual does then it would be murder, but because the state is doing it, it is in the name of justice.
Yes because he is saying what is truly barbaric would be to let these heinous crimes go unpunished just because there hasn't been a solution found that everyone can agree with.
Each of his example let the audience know that the murderers didn't just kill once and moved on with their lives, but that each one at some point killed more and more people and that some of those that were released from prison after being convicted of murder did it again. Each example also shows the audience that these murderers are without conscience and morality and don't have regards for human life.

Language
A combative tone, almost like instead of a general audience that he is talking directly to those that oppose his views and is saying these are the facts, you're wrong, get some common sense. His language just adds on the feeling that those who oppose his view are being talked down to, sort of like they are uneducated. I don't really too much care for his tone, if it wasn't for the examples I probably wouldn't even agree with his view.
That his views about capital punishment are right and that those who oppose him are wrong.

Writing Topic
I don't have too much experience with death. In my entire life I have only went to one funeral and have lost one person in my family that I knew. So I can just imagine what it feels like for someone to lose a loved one, or to have a loved one taken away brutally. I, as a Christian, believe that murder is wrong without just cause, such as self-defense, but I do believe that capital punishment is the best way to deal with those who murder just for the sole reason of taking a life. The bible talks a lot about how you reap what you sow, in our terms that’s what goes around, comes around, or karma. It's really the perfect way of keeping everyone in the world in check, it makes him or her think about the consequences of their actions, and makes them feel the pain they have caused others. If I steal something from someone, something should be stolen from me, if I hit someone, I should get hit back, if I murder someone intentionally trying to do someone harm, I should suffer the same fate.