Is there evidence that capital punishment is a deterrent for crime?

Order Description
RESEARCHING THE PAPER. Sources for the paper should include court decisions, Congressional debates (if appropriate), books and scholarly articles in law reviews and political science journals. An important part of your grade will include your use of primary source materials.

WRITING THE PAPER. Your paper should contain a clear statement of what you are attempting to show. The body should include both sides of the argument you are analyzing (if appropriate) .

The paper must be typed, double spaced, and in proper form. This includes proper citations, bibliography, spelling, grammar, etc. Pay careful attention to citations. All material that is not either common knowledge or your own ideas must be cited, whether quoted directly or not! You may cite such information using either footnotes (or endnotes) or parenthetical citations. Whether footnotes or parenthetical cites are used, a complete bibliography must accompany your paper.

For court cases, give the complete citation if you are using footnotes or endnotes, e.g., Brown v. Board of Ed., 347 U.S. 484 (1954). If you are referring to something on page 490 of the case cite it as Brown v. Board of Ed., 347 U.S. 484, 490 (1954). If you are using a parenthetical cites, use (Brown v. Board of Ed. [1954]) or, if you are citing information from a particular page, (Brown v. Board of Ed. [1954], p. 490). Whether you use parenthetical cites or footnotes you must include a table of cases that includes the complete cite for each case used. Papers will be heavily penalized for inadequate citation, improper form, incorrect spelling and poor grammar.

Since one of the goals of the paper is to have you use primary research material you will be required to include an appendix containing a Xerox copy of the first page of every source you cite. In other words, reading a case from a textbook and citing it as if you have read the case is forbidden. You may use cases or articles from secondary sources provided you cite them as such. Bear in mind though that too much reliance on secondary sources will affect that part of your grade based on quality of research.

Some additional things for you to note:
1. Quotes over five lines must be single spaced and indented. Such quotes are not enclosed in quotation marks.
2. Avoid sentences such as “According to opponents or critics of this bill/law” etc., without citing the critics or opponents. Similarly, avoid “Many support (or oppose) x,y, or z” without citing a source, unless the information is clearly common knowledge.
3. Feel free to use subheadings, but do so judiciously.
4. Name quoted authorities in the text. That is, “According to Constitutional scholar Robert Bork, this decision ‘is a travesty of justice'” generally is more authoritative than “This decision ‘is a travesty of justice'” followed by a footnote to Bork.
5. If all the material in one paragraph comes from a single source do not just cite the last sentence. Either make reference in the text at the beginning (e.g., According to William Brennan…) or cite everything. The reader should easily be able to determine the source of all information that is not common knowledge.
6. Include a clear statement of your topic.
7. Do not merely present evidence. An important part of your grade will be based on your analysis of the evidence.
8. Use proper grammatical form. Pay particular attention to the proper use of commas and semicolons, and avoid the use of passive construction wherever possible.
9. Avoid incomplete sentences. Consider the following statements: “The Supreme Court decided the abortion case. Which was a crucial decision to the rights of women.” The second sentence in not complete.
10. Proofread