Dear Mr. Gacy: Death Penalty

A. Discuss the following questions in small groups:

1. Do you agree with capital punishment - death penalty? If so, under which circumstances?


2. What do countries do about people wrongly executed? What do you believe should be done?


3. Is capital punishment a deterrent to curb violent crime?


4. What do you think about the saying "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"?


5. Should death penalty be applied to mentally ill criminals, especially those who cannot be treated and recovered to live in society?


6. What do you think goes on in the mind of the person who will be executed? What about the executioner's?


7. What is the most humane way to put someone to death?


8. What is the best alternative to execution?


9. Should the general public be allowed to attend the execution? Why (not)?


10. In Britain, you may be sentenced with a death penalty if you kill the Queen, but not if you kill your neighbor. What's your opinion about it? How fair is it?


11. What's your theory for why 98% of the people executed in the USA are male?

12. So, are you for or against death penalty? Explain why.


II. Watch the movie segment and discuss the questions:

1. Describe the scene:

2. What does the student want do do?

3. Do you think this is a good research? What can we learn from it?

4. What are the risks of such a decision?

5. What should happen to the main character of the scene?