AS90857: SPEAKING – 3 CREDITS

 

1957, Mt Eden prison. The last time and place New Zealand saw a legal execution on its soil before Capital punishment was abolished. This man was Walter Bolton who may be related to troy Bolton in high school musical, he poisoned his wife a year earlier and was sentenced to death by hanging . Now days a murderer like Walter can be in the same work place as you after serving only 17 years for such a heinous crime. Things have to change

Hi i’m Max and i’m here to convince you that New Zealand should bring back Capital Punishment and keep dangerous people off the streets for good.

Firstly what is capital punishment. Capital Punishment more commonly known as the Death Penalty first originated in 1575, it is the act of legally authorized killing someone as a form of punishment.

As of 2016 there are still 58 countries that carry out capital punishment. America, Japan, China, Jamaica to name a few. up until 1989 Capital Punishment was still legal in New Zealand. 30 years after the last execution it was formally abolished. police alone are not enough to deter crime such as murder. over the past 10 years New Zealand has implemented proactive police policies in an atempt to lower crimes rates which have shown to be detrimental in the minority communities increasing crime rates intern. America which has had this system for a long time still has 5 times the crime rate of New Zealand showing that this system isn’t enough to prevent crime.

So why the Death penalty? well on average in several states of america that still allow such punishment it costs the taxpayer roughly 2 million dollars per case. that might seem very expensive which it is, but it is only the fraction of the price for sentencing a criminal to life without parole at an estimated 1.2 to 3.6 million dollars more per case. that means it could cost our government 5.6 million dollars to sentence someone for life. That could be put to better use like upgrading the lower docile schools all over the country which might even reduce the number of life sentences in the future. just think of all the food we would save not having to feed an inmate for 50 years till their sentence ends.

there goes an analogy which states that there is a cliff at a town and people tend to fall off it. They decide to put a ambulance at the bottom so as soon as someone falls they can be helped. They then decide to put a fence at the top to prevent the fall all togeather. In this context the  cliff is the person spiraling out of control until the hit the ground and ambulance which is prison. So upgrading the schools and getting people a good education as well as implementing a form of order by using death penalty would be the fence which would lower the amount of people falling into that spiral and ending up with a life sentence.

All of New Zealand’s 89 Executions have been carried out by hanging. some of which were public. I believe that although the person has taken ones life they should go out in a calmer way in the form of a lethal injection. Some may say that this form of punishment is very inhumane. I would agree but as Margret Thatcher said. People who go out prepared to take the lives of other people forfeit their own right to live. I believe that that death penalty should be used only very rarely, but I believe that no-one should go out certain that no matter how cruel, how vicious, how hideous their murder, they themselves will not suffer the death penalty.

most if not all of you will have heard the saying an eye for an eye. unfortunately in this society this saying means an eye for a bed food and shelter for the rest of your life. so what is it. are we going to let these monsters live after taking something so amazing as a life, or are we going to do something about it and stop them from ever doing it again. Lets bring back Capital Punishment and clean the streets of New Zealand for good.

 

Movie Report #1: The Imitation Game #3

The Imitation Game is a 2014 American historical drama directed by Morten Tyldum. Alan turning is a mathematician and is employed by bletchley park under the rule of Commander Alistair denniston. he has been tasked with breaking the enigma machine, used by the Germans to send coded messages. Alan from a young age has always been very serious and lacked a sense of humor. through out the film we see glimpses into alans past and learn about Christopher Morcom who shows him cryptography and eventually alan forms romantic feelings towards Christopher.
All of Alan’s work partners find him incredibly difficult to work with as Alan sees them as inferior to him. he ends up building the enigma breaker himself until Commander Denniston cuts funding for the project as there have been no results. Turning writes to the then president of England Winston Churchill who then gives anal all of the funding required.  and places Alan in-charge of the team. Alan fires several of his co workers and places a crossword in the newspaper. from this he hires Joan Clark.
once the Machine which he named Christopher is completed it is ineffective as it cannot solve the enigma by the end of their day which is when the Germans change the code. Denniston comes back and orders for the machine to be destroyed and fire Alan. all of his co workers stand up and defend Alan. Clark decides to leave as her parents wish but Alan proposes to her to make sure she stayed. during the wedding Alan confesses his sexual orientation to a co worker who warns him to keep it quiet. Alan has a brain wave after overhearing a clerk mention a German soldier that she spies on and his messages. after adjusting the machine it fires out the decryption in minutes. Alan realizes not everything can be decrypted as the Germans would eventually find out enigma has been broken.
In the 1950s Turing is convicted of indecency and, in lieu of a jail sentence, undergoes chemical castration so he can continue his work. Clarke visits him in his home and witnesses his physical and mental deterioration. She comforts him by saying that his work saved millions of lives.
7 June 1954 Alan Turning took his life as a result of his medication. He is considered the father of modern computing and A.I.

After watching this movie and learning about the fantastic mathematician and war hero Alan Turning I am amazed at how much of a stigma was around homosexuality in the 1950’s. it was so bad that even the one of the greatest minds in the world was charged with something that they cannot control. it is a shame that he took his own life when he had so much potential.

I am thankful that the world we live in today now accepts people for who they are and people who are different may be dissed but will never face what happened to Alan Turning during the last years of his life.

 

This is your online portfolio

Hello and welcome to your personal online journal.

This platform has been created to enhance and enrich your learning at Mount Aspiring College. Its purpose is to provide you with an audience for your work (or work-in-progress) and you have the choice (by altering the ‘visibility’ of your posts) of whether your work on here is visible to the world, or only to your teacher.

Anything you post here in the public domain represents you and thus it’s important that you take care with that decision, but don’t be afraid to publish your work – as the feedback you may get from people at home, your peers and people from around the internet is only likely to enhance it.

Remember you can always access your class blog and all manner of resources through the Department of English main website – and by all means check out the sites of your peers to see what they’re getting up to as well.

If you have any questions for me, an excellent way to get an answer is to create a new private post on this journal. I am notified of any new posts and will reply swiftly to any queries.

Make the most of, and enjoy this new freedom in your English learning.

Righto!

 

Chris Waugh