Dead Man Walking
Dead Man Walking, a story by Sister Helen Prejean, is a superb book, presenting most of the aspects regarding capital punishment. According to my opinion the unique thing about this book, is its ability to make people reflect upon and even question their earlier thoughts concerning the death penalty. Many different points of view are presents, but the book doesn’t pick sides. Dead Man Walking manages to remain objective even when we approach the painful end.
The book is based on Sister Helen Prejean’s experiences with inmates on death row. Sister Helen receives a letter from prisoner Matthew Poncelet. Due to a horrible murder to which he claims only to have been an observer, he is now on death row, waiting for his execution. He requests her to come visiting him. In the next few days we follow Sister Helens conversations with Matthew, his family and the families of the two teenagers brutally raped and killed. In spite of the fact that Helen meets a lot of anger and sorrow for her being so involved with Matthew she keeps on fighting for his life. But the appeal gets rejected and the execution gets closer
There is one statement in the book that I think summarizes the theme. A lawyer observes: “it is easy to kill a monster, but hard killing a human being.”
I think that one of the reasons Sister Helen Prejean wrote this book is to bring more knowledge about the complex death penalty to the public. While the rest of the Western world has abolished this, in my opinion, old-fashioned punishment has become an asset to US politicians in order to gain trust from the American voters.
Sister Helen Prejean and the condemned Poncelet are defiantly the main characters of this book. Even though few people can identify themselves with Poncelet, his grief and despair occurs before and during the injection and reminds us that less than few are totally in lack of emotions. Sister Helen is a Nun who spends much of her time doing charity in her poor neighborhood. She is having a hard time not letting her to Poncelet’s actions dominate her spiritual relationship, but manages to remember the Christian message: “Every man is worth more than his worst actions.
In the essay “Death and Justice”, Ed Koch, the former mayor of New York City, presents an argument defending the use of capital punishment in heinous murder cases. In advancing his viewpoint on the subject matter, Koch addresses the arguments made by those who oppose the death penalty. This novel approach to making an argument not only engages the reader more in the piece, but also immediately illustrates his balanced understanding of both sides of the argument. Rather than simply presenting a biased or one-sided argument regarding his opinion, Koch explores a full range of issues surrounding the incendiary issue and displays both balance and erudition in expression his opinion on the issue of capital punishment.
Sister Helen Prejean purposes of writing this text is to create awareness about the cruel and moral of death penalty and the reality of the humanness of executing a human being in the form of Capital Punishment. The audiences of this text are from college students to older age group. Because of the text used mature language and requires a deep understanding of human rights and death penalty in order to view her point of views. She wants to expresses her thought about the morality of killing a human that were allowed by our society and government. She makes the audience think about death row inmate as a person and give you the truth about what is actually taking place within our society today. She allows us go deeper into her thought to see why and how she views the death penalty as immoral and she tries to helping the poor that struggle in the justice in our
Randa, Laura E. “Society’s Final Solution: A History and Discussion of the Death Penalty.” (1997). Rpt.in History of the Death Penalty. Ed. Michael H. Reggio. University Press of America, Inc., 1997. 1-6 Print.
In the book “Dead Man Walking”, written by Sister Helen Prejean, is about the un-justifying laws of the death penalty. It features Patrick Sonnier, a criminal, who is sentenced to death because of the crime he has committed. The death penalty had been around for years and is arguable on the subject if it should be abolished or not. I stand with Prejean on her beliefs about how the death penalty is evil and unjust. For the purpose of this essay, I have chosen a poster which represents my thoughts and beliefs on what I feel strongly about the death penalty.
Throughout America’s history, capital punishment, or the death penalty, has been used to punish criminals for murder and other capital crimes. In the early 20th century, numerous people would gather for public executions. The media described these events gruesome and barbaric (“Infobase Learning”). People began to wonder if the capital punishment was really constitutional.
In Coretta Scott King’s essay, “The Death Penalty is a Step Back”, the readers are shown the author's view of the death penalty and how she supports this stance by using the three rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos, to draw the reader in to her paper.
Narration: When it comes to the death penalty there are Opponents and Proponents and although both aim to defend and protect society from crime their beliefs differ in how to accomplish this.
Throughout the ages, death penalty has always been a controversial topic and triggered numerous insightful discussion. In Kroll’s Unquiet Death of Robert Harris, the writer employs pathos as an appeal throughout the whole article in order to convince the audiences that death penalty is “something indescribably ugly” and “nakedly barbaric”. While Mencken makes use of ethos and logos and builds his arguments in a more constructive and effective way to prove that death penalty is necessary and should exist in the social system.
In the Time article, “The Death of the Death Penalty”, David Von Drehle addresses the controversial issue of the death penalty. The death penalty in the United States is a declining and flawed method of punishment. The problem of the American death penalty is still an issue in this day and age. Von Drehle compresses the flaws of the death penalty into five simple reasons.
The starting point of this book shows how much she hates Ms.Leone and complaining about her current situations. For example, in one of her first entries, she talks about when she got in trouble for coming home late from school. Her foster parents think she is doing drugs, so they search her. After that they lock her in the laundry room. ...
This essay will discuss the various views regarding the death penalty and its current status in the United States. It can be said that almost all of us are familiar with the saying “An eye for an eye” and for most people that is how the death penalty is viewed. In most people’s eyes, if a person is convicted without a doubt of murdering someone, it is believed that he/she should pay for that crime with their own life. However, there are some people who believe that enforcing the death penalty makes society look just as guilty as the convicted. Still, the death penalty diminishes the possibility of a convicted murderer to achieve the freedom needed to commit a crime again; it can also be seen as a violation of the convicted person’s rights going against the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
The death penalty continues to be an issue of controversy and is an issue that will be debated in the United States for many years to come. According to Hugo A. Bedau, the writer of “The Death Penalty in America”, capital punishment is the lawful infliction of the death penalty. The death penalty has been used since ancient times for a variety of offenses. The Bible says that death should be done to anyone who commits murder, larceny, rapes, and burglary. It appears that public debate on the death penalty has changed over the years and is still changing, but there are still some out there who are for the death penalty and will continue to believe that it’s a good punishment. I always hear a lot of people say “an eye for an eye.” Most people feel strongly that if a criminal took the life of another, their’s should be taken away as well, and I don’t see how the death penalty could deter anyone from committing crimes if your going to do the crime then at that moment your not thinking about being on death role. I don’t think they should be put to death they should just sit in a cell for the rest of their life and think about how they destroy other families. A change in views and attitudes about the death penalty are likely attributed to results from social science research. The changes suggest a gradual movement toward the eventual abolition of capital punishment in America (Radelet and Borg, 2000).
One of the most repetitive and controversial topics discussed in the criminal justice system, is the death penalty. Capital punishment has been a part of our nation’s history since the creation of our constitution. In fact, as of January 1st, 2016, 2,943 inmates were awaiting their fate on death row (Death Penalty Information Center). Throughout my life, I have always been a strong advocate for the death penalty. During the majority of my undergraduate degree, I was a fierce supporter of capital punishment when discussing the topic in classes. However, throughout many criminal justice courses, I found myself in the minority, regarding the abolishment of the death penalty. While debating this topic, I would always find myself sympathetic to the victims and their families, as one should be, wanting those who were responsible for heinous crimes to
“How the Death Penalty Saves Lives” According to DPIC (Death penalty information center), there are one thousand –four hundred thirty- eight executions in the United States since 1976. Currently, there are Two thousand –nine hundred –five inmates on death row, and the average length of time on death row is about fifteen years in the United States. The Capital punishment, which appears on the surface to the fitting conclusion to the life of a murder, in fact, a complicated issue that produces no clear resolution.; However, the article states it’s justice. In the article “How the Death Penalty Saves Lives” an author David B. Muhlhausen illustrates a story of Earl Ringo , Jr, brutal murder’s execution on September ,10,
The novel follows the protagonist, Celie, as she experiences such hardships as racism and abuse, all the while attempting to discover her own sense of self-worth. Celie expresses herself through a series of private letters that are initially addressed to God, then later to her sister Nettie. As Celie develops from an adolescent into an adult, her letters possess m... ... middle of paper ... ... bservations of her situation and form an analysis of her own feelings.