Capital Punishment

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There are 50 possible errors in this paper.  Circle the correct word in the parentheses.

Mr. President, I rise to speak in favor of the amendment calling for the reinstitution of (capitol, capital) punishment, the (affect, effect) of which, I feel will be to cause a decrease in serious crime in this (capitol, capital) city.  It would be easy for us to sit here in the legislative chambers of this (capital, capitol) building and (complaisantly, complacently) say that the enactment of this amendment will no (effect, affect) a change in the continuing (serge, surge) of crime in the streets of the nation’s (capital, capitol). We must (corroborate, collaborate) with the law enforcement arm of our government to bring about reversal in this trend as soon as (practical, practicable).

Mr. President, I must disagree with the (illusion, allusion) of my distinguished colleague from Ohio to the utter hopelessness of our present plight.  I suspect that he is suffering from the (allusion, illusion) that if we sit here long enough everything will go away and things will get better.  This is a (principal, principle) with which I cannot agree, and the (principal, principle) basis for my disagreement is that everything in life gets down to cause and (affect, effect) relationship.  (There, Their) are certain elements of our society who must be made to realize the errors of (their, there) ways, and that a severe penalty will swiftly and surely (effect, affect) their future lives.

Paying the supreme penalty is not a new concept.  Many references to it may be found in the (law, Law) of Moses and for less (vial, vile) crimes than we are here considering it for.  And in those days it was carried out by stoning to death, not by the simple expedient of mixing one (vile, vial) of liquid with another to form a poisonous gas.

While I agree that we should examine our feelings closely in this regard, we should also consider all the safeguards that are thrown up to guard our (rites, rights) as human beings:

  1. A man must be apprised of his Constitutional rights (to, too) before you may (illicit, elicit) a confession from him about his (elicit, illicit) activities.
  2. A man may not be convicted solely on such a confession, but we are required to (collaborate, corroborate) it with additional evidence.
  3. A man must be apprised of his right to (council, counsel) and no imputation of (gilt, guilt) may be drawn from his failure to give a statement in the absence of (council, counsel).
  4. A man may testify or refuse to testify, and no imputation of (gilt, guilt) may be drawn from such refusal.
  5. If he is indigent and requires (council, counsel) a lawyer must be appointed to represent him before a statement is taken.

All these (rites, rights) are afforded him from his arrest, through trial, sentence, and (rite, right) up to the time the (rites, rights) of his church are afforded him, prior to carrying out of the penalty, for his protection and comfort, and no stone is left unturned to make positive that he receives fair treatment.

The Council of State Governments has expressed its concurrence in the adoption of legislation of this type of (principal, principle) and it would be foolish not to (collaborate, corroborate) with them at this time when the feeling of the nation runs so high.  It would take nerves of (steal, steel) (to, too) withstand the onslaught of public opinion prevailing at this time.  Notwithstanding that (their, there) are many among us who would have this body disregarded the (plane, plain) mandate of the people for action here and now.  That’s the (plane, plain), simple truth of it.  I would feel it necessary to (steel, steal) away into the night and hide were I to vote against this bill and abandon my strong feelings about it.  Gentlemen, we must (raze, raise) the quality of life in this country to a higher (plane, plain) and this is one manner of accomplishing it.  To (weight, wait) another year would put us that much closer to anarchy.

Mr. President, what I am saying to you is just (plane, plain) old common horse sense.  It doesn’t take any superior intellect to determine that to delay could bring about the (dissolution, disillusion) of this (August, august) body.  I don’t mean to (dissolution, disillusion) anyone into thinking that this would happen overnight, but the further we drift toward anarchy makes this result more and more possible.  I say w should let this (capital, capitol) dome ring with a chorus of (eyes, ayes) when this bill comes to a vote, and let the world know that we stand for law and order.  This will bring about a turnabout in the trend toward anarchy and let the people live in freedom once more.