Close Reading 4

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/opinion/sunday/making-us-safer-one-ipad-at-a-time.html?ref=opinion

            The article “Making Us Safer, One IPad at a Time” by Steve Cohen uses diction, sentence structure, and detail to get across Cohen’s point that the methods of the justice system seem to be lacking. With this setting he sets the stage for his idea about IPads and how they should be used to improve the justice system.

            Cohen uses precise words to get across the point that he disagrees with the structure and organization of America’s justice system. For example, Cohen talks about how inefficient the use of handwriting paperwork is when it comes to logging cases. Cohen uses words like “scratch” to describe the handwriting and “decipher” to show how much trouble others have to go through to read it.

            For sentence structure he uses the dash to provide more information supporting his claims, about the unsatisfactory organization of the judicial system. For example, he says “One of the biggest sources of delay — and case dismissal — involves prosecutors’ getting signed statements from victims, witnesses and police officers. Last year, more than 58,000 cases — 15 percent of all misdemeanors — were dismissed or not pursued by the district attorney’s offices…” As shown here, he adds in extra tidbits of information to create more emphasis on his point, that many cases get overlooked because of the faulty system of logging information.

            His use of detail and description is what makes the piece interesting to read and easy to understand. He gives multiple comparisons to illustrate his point about the problems with using handwritten notes. For example, he says “It resembles the children’s game of telephone, with 7-year-olds whispering a phrase in turn to the person next to them and the resulting message getting distorted. That’s why I was only momentarily surprised to see an arrest report describing the defendant as 6’10” tall. His arrest record listed his height as 6’01.”” The comparison really makes it clearer for the reader to understand his point of view.

            After using these diction, sentence structure, and detail, Cohen has effectively established the situation he wants the reader to be in when he describes his idea about the policemen and other law enforcers using the IPads to record their information. That situation being that they understand the problems with the organization of the law enforcement and judicial system and that he has a solution.