The Story of a Snitch

Jeremy Kahn’s main claim is that the justice system is crippled by the lack of witness cooperation. Witnesses are too afraid to come forward with information and therefore murderers get no punishment. Without better witness protection, the justice system will remain unjust. Kahn builds his argument by beginning and ending with the story of John Dowrey—a criminal that witnessed a shooting and decided to come forward in hopes of reducing his own sentence. This strategy grabs the reader’s attention in the beginning and leaves the reader emotional and thinking at the end. The reader becomes enthralled in Kahn’s argument because he/she wants to find out what will happen to Dowrey and wants to know the facts and history behind why it happens. In order to build ethos, the author includes facts about crime rates, court cases, and the amount of money being put into witness protection programs. He shows knowledge of the justice system and its problems as well as the impact it has had on specific people. Kahn’s appeal to pathos is shown in his heart-wrenching stories of real people and families affected by the lack of witness protection. He talks about houses getting firebombed, families having to flee their hometowns, and closes with the tragic death of John Dowrey. This causes the reader to feel sadness and anger towards the failing system and it is the hope of Kahn that the reader will feel motivated to support witness protection reform and stand up and be a witness if needed.