New York City's mayor, Edward I. Koch, in his "Death and Justice" essay, defends his side of a high controversial debate in which he is in support of the death penalty. The purpose of Koch's essay is to persuade readers to believe that the death penalty is very necessary to maintain social order. Throughout the duration of his essay, Edward uses plenty of rhetorical devices to back up his position. He constructed this essay in the occasion of trials in which death penalty was debatable. Writing this essay, Koch directed it to those who oppose to the death penalty in hopes to gain more support for the idea. The first sentence and following paragraph of "Death and Justice" is loaded with example as well as irony. Koch starts off his essay strong with this rhetorical device by providing the reader with an example of "a man...who had been convicted of raping and murdering an 18-year old woman, was executed....In a statement issued several minutes before his death, Mr. Willie said: 'Killing people is wrong....It makes no difference whether it's citizens, countries, or governments. Killing is wrong.'" (Koch). He goes on to illustrate how another "admitted killer named Joseph Carl Shaw was put to death for murdering two teenagers" (Koch) stated that "Killing is wrong when I did it. Killing is wrong when you do it. I hope you have the moral strength to stop the killing" (Koch). By providing these examples, it allows the reader to see the irony in the situation. Koch uses a rhetorical question when he states, "what prompted these murderers to speak out against killing as they entered the death-house door. Did their newfound reverence for life stem from the realization that they were about to lose their own?" (Koch). Using these rhetorical devices makes those who oppose to the death penalty look hypocritical. He simply proved to his audience in these lines that attempting to get out of the death penalty after murdering another person creates an