Is capital punishment for first-degree murder morally justified?

1. Ethical Question

2. Introduction

3. Position Statement

4. Reasons in Support of Your Position

5. Opposing Position Statement

6. Reasons in Support of the Opposing Position

The assignment should be 500 words, written in essay form, with six clearly labeled sections as indicated

below, and include a title page and reference page.

Part 1: Ethical Question

Before writing the paper, you will need to spend some time thinking about the specific ethical issue you

want to focus on throughout this course.

• Begin this task by viewing the list of approved ethical topics and questions provided in the Week

1 Announcement titled: “Written Assignment Ethical Topics and Questions List.” Take some time

looking over the list and browsing through some of the material in the corresponding chapters

of the textbook in which each topic is addressed and decide which to focus on.

• Once you have done this, choose one of the ethical questions associated with that topic. If you

wish to do so, you may formulate your own ethical question, but it must be on one of the topics

listed in the announcement. Be sure to carefully study the provided questions and model your

own question after them in terms of specificity and ethical focus.”

Place the ethical question under the Part 1: Ethical Question heading at the top of the paper.

Part 2: Introduction

In this section of your paper, you should introduce the topic and question at issue by doing the following

(not necessarily in this exact order):

• Explain its relevance and importance.

• Define any key terms and concepts.

• Provide any relevant context and background information.

• Briefly reference an idea, quote, or analysis of the issue that you have found in one of the

required resources on the topic. Required resources include the textbook chapter focused on

that topic (6, 7, 8, 9, or 10), the “Primary Sources” listed at the end of Chapters 6-9, and the

“readings listed under “Further Reading” at the end of each section in Chapter 10.

The introduction will be the longest section of this assignment and should be at least 300 words in one

or two paragraphs. Place the introduction material under the Part 2: Introduction.

Part 3: Position Statement

Your work on the introduction section has likely unearthed various positions one might take on the

ethical question you have chosen. In this section, you will formulate a position statement.

• A position statement is a one sentence statement that articulates your position on the issue and

directly answers the question you have raised. For example, if the question was, “What is a

physician’s obligation with respect to telling the truth to his or her patients?” a position

statement might be “A physician may never directly lie to a patient, but it may be moral for a

physician to withhold information if the physician reasonably believes doing so directly benefits

the patient.” A different position statement might be: “A physician may use any means

necessary, including lying to a patient, if the physician believes that will produce the best overall

results.” However, the following statement would not be a sufficient position statement: “A

physician must always respect the rights of his or her patients.” The reason this is not a

sufficient position statement is that it does not directly answer the question concerning truth

telling.

• Think of the position statement as the strongest claim you would make if you were a

prosecuting attorney making your opening statement to a jury, where you want to state

precisely and directly the position you want them to believe.

Place the position statement under the Part 3: Position Statement heading.

Part 4: Reasons in Support of Your Position

Now that you have articulated a position on the issue, write a short paragraph—just a few sentences—

that presents and explains one or two of the strongest reasons in support of your position statement.

• You want your supporting reason to explain why someone should support the position you are

taking on the ethical question. A supporting reason is a consideration that helps to show why

your position is stronger than another position.

• One way to approach this is to imagine yourself in friendly conversation with someone who

does not necessarily agree with your position (perhaps they disagree, or perhaps they are

undecided). When you state your position, they might ask why you think that; the kind of

response you would give is a supporting reason.

• Supporting reasons can include many things including, but not limited to: an appeal to moral

principles such as duty, justice, fairness and equality; the positive or negative effects of certain

actions on policies; or a summary of facts, statistics or evidence and an explanation of how they

support your view.

Place the supporting reason(s) under the Part 4: Reasons in Support of Your Position heading.

Part 5: Opposing Position Statement

Now that you have provided reasons to support your position statement, in this section you will take a

step back from all of that and articulate a statement that expresses an opposing or contrary statement.

• Think of the opposing position statement as the strongest claim you would make if you were the

defense attorney making your opening statement to the jury immediately after they have heard

the prosecutor’s statement.

Place the opposing position statement under the Part 5: Opposing Position Statement heading.

Part 6: Reasons in Support of the Opposing Position

In this section, write a short paragraph—just a few sentences—that presents and explains one or two of

the strongest reasons in support of the opposing position statement.

• A strong opposing reason is a reason anyone would need to consider, even if they do not agree

with the opposing position.

• In other words, do not simply contradict claims that you make in Part 4, especially factual

claims! You should strive to identify and articulate considerations in support of the opposing

position that you think are accurate and true, or at least plausible, even if you still believe your

own position has the most support overall.

• If the reason(s) in support of the opposing position are ones you consider obviously false or

indefensible, you should look for better reasons.

• Put yourself in the position of a defense attorney who has to make the best possible case to the

jury in defense of his or her client.

Place the opposing reasons under the Part 6: Reasons in Support of the Opposing Position heading.

In your paper,

• Identify the ethical question.

• Introduce the topic and question.

• Formulate a position statement.

• Explain the strongest reasons in support of the position statement.

• Formulate an opposing position statement.

• Explain the strongest reasons in support of the opposing position statement.

The Ethical Question paper

• Must be 500 to 600 words in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted

according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external

site.) resource.

• Must include a separate title page with the following:

o Title of paper

o Student’s name

o Course name and number

o Instructor’s name

o Date submitted

• For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for

Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.).

• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for

additional guidance.

• Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Writing

Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.

• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in

the Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource

in the Writing Center for specifications.