WRITING PROFICIENCY EXAM
Choose and fully develop one of the following topics:
1. One of the major problems with America’s capital punishment system is the high probability of sentencing innocent people to death. All too often, ten to twenty years after an execution, a confession is made by a criminal who is conscience stricken or on his deathbed. The Constitution Project, a Washington, D.C. organization consisting of supporters and opponents of the death penalty, has developed eighteen major reforms to help ensure that this country no longer executes innocent people. Some of the recommendations that they have requested state and federal governments to adopt in order to end wrongful death through the often inept practice of capital punishment sentencing include engaging better lawyers for poor people facing the death penalty; requiring prosecutors to turn over all the evidence in a case; ending the execution of juveniles and those who are mentally handicapped; providing DNA testing that could prove a defendant’s innocence; and eliminating legal technicalities that could prevent the release of innocent death-row inmates.
In a five-paragraph essay, discuss three recommendations that can remedy the flaws inherent in America’s capital punishment system.
2. According to the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, over 400 towns and cities across the United States have active youth curfews. Among these cities are Atlanta, Philadelphia, Forth Worth, and most recently Tallulah, Louisiana. Across the country, juveniles are ordered off the street at varying times between the hours of 9:00 and 11:00 p.m. As curfews increase in popularity, so does the controversy over imposing these community-wide restrictions on juveniles. Opponents argue that curfews spread negative stereotypes, treat young people like criminals, and mask larger problems (i.e. lack of opportunity, role models and hope among teens). They also cite the fact that juvenile crimes occur between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m., so a later curfew is not an effective means of prevention. Proponents, however, believe that imposing a curfew is a way to fight juvenile crime, a means to promote positive values, and a way to show that adults, not teens, commit most crimes.
In a five-paragraph essay, discuss three reasons why you support or oppose imposing community-wide curfews on juveniles.
Spring 2022
