Everyone has an opinion on capital punishment and the death penalty. However, most people never have to think about the person being executed or the circumstances that put them on death row. The movie Dead Man Walking allows the average person to peek into this often hidden world. Although, I can say my view on the death penalty has not been altered, I cannot say that this movie and its presentation of capital punishment did not move me emotionally. Dead Man Walking depicts the story of death row inmate Matthew Poncelet, a man who was convicted of brutally raping, stabbing, and shooting teenagers Hope Percy and Walter Delacroix. His punishment for these monstrosities was to be death by lethal injection. Right before his execution date, Poncelet wrote to Sister Helen Prejean for help and guidance. Believing no one should be As the minutes tick down to his death, Poncelet begins to break down and his lack of remorsefulness dissolves. His only comfort is Sister Helen and his newly found forgiveness from the Bible. We can once again feel the pain that overcomes Poncelet as he fully grasps what is about to happen. Then, when the restrained Poncelet is displayed in front of the witnesses, including Mr. and Mrs. Percy and Mr. Delacroix, he asked if he has any last words. Poncelet states that he refuses to die with hate in his heart and apologizes to the devastated families. This scene becomes even more upsetting when you see Poncelet and Sister Helen mouthing ‘I love you’ to each other and when Helen reaches her arm out to comfort Poncelet as the first set of lethal drugs are injected. All in all, Dead Man Walking was a phenomenal film about the final days of a death row inmate. It allowed you to form opinions while also showing you various sides of the same situations. Dead Man Walking was an emotional striking movie that brought new insights to the highly controversial death
Dead Man Walking is a nonfiction book written by Sister Helen Prejean which details her world of being a spiritual advisor for inmates facing the death penalty. Sister Prejean first became the spiritual advisor for Elmo Patrick Sonnier who was being executed for his role in the murder of two teenagers. After she went through the execution process with Sonnier she became the spiritual advisor for another man and became a well-known abolitionist. This piece chronicles Sister Prejean’s passage through the execution system and her experiences along the way.
In the 1995 movie Dead Man Walking, Sean Penn played a death row inmate Matthew Poncelet. Poncelet was convicted of the murder and rape of two young teenagers. He was sentenced to the death penalty and his accomplice was not. This proves that there are ways to get out of capital ...
Is the death penalty fair? Is it humane? Does it deter crime? The answers to these questions vary depending on who answers them. The issue of capital punishment raises many debates. These same questions troubled Americans just as much in the day of the Salem witch trials as now in the say of Timothy McVeigh. During the time of the Salem witchcraft trials they had the same problem as present society faces. Twenty innocent people had been sentenced to death. It was too late to reverse the decision and the jurors admitted to their mistake. The execution of innocent people is still a major concern for American citizens today.
Capital punishment, otherwise known as “The Death Penalty,” has been around for many years and has been the cause of death for over twelve hundred inmates since 1976 (“Death Penalty Information Center”), but is the Death Penalty really beneficial to the American public? This question is in the back of many people’s minds, and has left many questioning the meaning of the punishment. The death penalty targets murderers or high profile cases. Some say that the death penalty should apply to those who murder, rape, or abuse human beings such as children, or women. The significance of the penalty is to teach these criminals that there are laws that must be followed. In a figurative sense, it is to teach those potential wrongdoers a lesson. By examining the facts around us, we can gain a greater sense of security, and a greater understanding of what the death penalty can accomplish, all while assessing the high-quality aspects that the penalty has to offer.
Anyway, this whole controversy concerning the moral validity of capital punishment came to my attention the other day while I was watching television. A PBS program called "Frontline" had done a report on the true story behind the book "Dead Man Walking," written by Sister Helen Prejean, which was a primary source for the construction of Tim Robbin's movie of the same name.
The death penalty, ever since it was established, has created a huge controversy all throughout the world. Ever since the death penalty was created, there have been people who supported the death penalty and those who wanted to destroy it. When the death penalty was first created the methods that were used were gruesome and painful, it goes against the Eighth Amendment that was put in place many years later. The methods they used were focused on torturing the people and putting them through as much pain as possible. In today’s society the death penalty is quick and painless, it follows the Eighth Amendment. Still there are many people who are against capital punishment. The line of whether to kill a man or women for murder or to let him or her spend the rest one’s life in prison forever will never be drawn in a staight.
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 death penalty or also known as capital punishment has been around for thousands of years, yet in today 's society, it is not very common to hear that a prisoner has been executed. There are hundreds of people that have been sentenced for death, but how many have actually had their sentence carried out? There are people who have been on death row for ten, twenty, and even thirty plus years still waiting for their execution. Which leads to the question of, how effective is capital punishment if prisoners are waiting for decades before procedure are even carried out. In his piece The Death of the Death Penalty, David Von Drehle talks about the possible end of capital punishment due 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,
Edward Koch, who was former mayor of New York, wrote an article about one of the most controversial talks called the death penalty. This controversial topic questions if it is right to execute a person for a crime committed or if it is wrong. He made the point that the death penalty is good, in order to conclude that murderers should be punish with this penalty. He was bias in most of the passage, yet he tried to acknowledge other people’s opinion. In this article, Koch gives his supports to the idea to convict a murderer with death penalty by using a tone of objectiveness, shooting for the individuals who opposes his position to be the audience, and have a written form of conviction for the audience.
Few issues have been as hotly argued and controversial as the death penalty, with its many conflicting moral, social and legal implications. Compelling arguments exist in favor of the final punishment, and equally strong arguments exist to end its practice. Furthermore, considering its conflicting history, on the grand scale of the whole world, and in just America, it is unlikely that this issue will be resolved any time soon. In the United States specifically, the issue has great significance to the bill of rights and the 8th amendment, which prevents cruel and unusual punishment. The death sentence, due to the intense debate on its morality and constitutionality, as well as the many conflicting decisions made about it until this day, still is and will likely remain a very controversial issue in the United States.
... person’s life? How can the death penalty continue to be justified in the face of over-whelming evidence which shows that innocent people have been wrongfully executed, that people are not deterred from committing murder, and that, in practice, the death penalty is racially biased and reserved for the poor. In a New York Times Op-Ed piece (July 14, 1995), writer, E.L. Doctorow, speaking in behalf of an inmate on death row wrote, “If the death penalty must exist in this country, it is the burden of the public servants charged with applying it to do so only from the most unanswerable and awesome judicial imperatives--or state-administered death becomes morally indistinguishable from any other murder.” Bibliography Butterfield, Greg. Repression Spurs Resistance. Workers World. 2/24/00 pg. 7 Cauthen, Kenneth. Capital Punishment: Maximum public safety (11/18/00) Online.available: Doctorow,E.L. and Weinglass, Leonard. Race for Justice. Monroe, Maine 1995 Guiterrez, Tony. Crime in America NewYork 1997 Rubac, Gloria. Illinois moratorium accelerates anti-death–penalty across U.S. Workers World. 2/17/00. pg. 5
Capital punishment is a declining institution as the twentieth century nears its end. At one time capital punishment was a common worldwide practice, but now it is only used for serious violation of laws in 100 of the world's 180 nations (Haines 3 ). It can be traced back to the earliest forms of civilization. The origins of the movement away from capital punishment are difficult to date precisely. The abolition movement can be heard as early as the religious sermons of the Quakers in the 1640's (Masur 4). In the seventeenth century, the Anglo-American world began to rely less on public executions and more in favor of private punishments. The possible decline in popularity of the capital punsihment system is directly related to the many controversial issues it entails such as: the questions of deterrence, morals and ethics, constitutionality, and economics.
"The death penalty issue is obviously a divisive one. But whether one is for or against, you can not deny the basic illogic - if we know the system is flawed, if we know there are innocent people on Death Row, then until the system is reformed, should we not abandon the death penalty to protect those who are innocent?"
Furthermore, neither Hilton or Helen had tried to find more evidence of the first lawyer’s incompetence which could have possibly lead to a retrial and could have at least ended with Poncelet receiving a life sentence. Matthew’s last words were how he believes that killing is wrong regardless of who commits the crime, including the government. Sister Helen had spoken to a guard at Angola about the death penalty where he wonders why she can’t see the execution as justice when the bible quotes an eye for an eye. Her rebuttal is that she does not believe “in killing people to say killing people is