A Lesson Before Dying

Death Penalty Project

As you may remember from discussing in class, Governor George Ryan has halted all executions in the state of Illinois. We have completed reading The Chicago Tribune article that discussed some of the reasons behind the halt.

Now, you are to write a letter to Governor Ryan and to State Representative Jim Fowler. In this letter, express your view about the halt of executions. Either offer your support for the death penalty or your opposition to it.

These letters will be private. I will read your letter to help with grammar and to make sure you have expressed yourself clearly, but I will not let anyone else read these. Be honest and state your viewpoint as clearly as possible. Make sure you support your reasons.

Your letter must be typed AND I suggest you save it on disk so you can make changes easily. If you do not have a disk you can save your letter to the hard drive of the computers in my classroom, but if you do that I cannot guarantee your privacy.

The letter to the Governor and the State Representative could be the same. If that is the case, you will only need to change the address.

Type this in correct letter format. An example is on the back.

Addresses:

Governor George Ryan

207 Statehouse

Springfield, IL 62706

State Representative Jim Fowler

617 East Church, Suite 8

Harrisburg, IL 62946

We will address the envelopes once I have read your letter.

Your street address

City, State, Zip

Today’s Date

Name of recipient

Street Address

City, State Zip

Dear Name of Recipient:

You will have an introductory paragraph stating why you are writing this letter. This paragraph will state your position on the death penalty.

Begin typing the body of your letter. You will support your position. The body of this will be one or more paragraphs.

You will have a concluding paragraph thanking them for taking the time to read your letter and you will re-state your position.

Sincerely,

Your Name