The Long Good Bye, Essay Example

Amanda Coyne is a critically acclaimed writer who writes thought provoking pieces for a host of publications. In looking at her piece “the Long Good-Bye,” I shall evaluate the Arguments put forward by the author. I shall also look at its credibility and emotional impact on the reader.

Coyne introduces us to a theory of justices known as retributive justice. It considers if, “a System that promises to fit the punishment to the crime,” but also does it offer satisfaction and psychological benefits to the aggrieved party. Utilitarian look at punishment from a standpoint of future social benefits. Coyne questions the retributive nature of the prison system in the United States.

Coyne uses the most vulnerable of society to put forth her argument that is women and children. She set the scene in a women’s prison on Mother’s Day to illicit the maximum emotional attachment and response from the reader. “Is Mommy a bad guy,”is an example of these emotional outbursts. The psychological impact these imprisonments have on the children. She uses emphasis by focusing on a particular case to see if the punishment fits the crime.

Coyne puts forth her arguments quite well yet not forcefully. She uses sympathy to excite the readers imagination and sympathy to her utilitarian arguments. She in my view successfully fills the gaps of law by looking at the difference in incarceration between federal and state crimes. She closes them by looking at the inequality of a system that is politically motivated by public hysteria for number of arrests as opposed to quality of arrests. She is successful in her endeavor because this reader never looked at the legal system in this way. However Immanuel Kant in his, “The Metaphysical Elements of Justice,” states it quite well punishment is a matter of justice.

Work Cited:

C. Lester.”Why Libertarian Restitution Beats State-Retribution and State-Leniency”. Web. Retrieved  2011/10/11.