Before watching Dead Man Walking, I was sure I was against the
death penalty for the simple for that it is wrong to kill a human and that it
is God's decision when someone dies. I had heard that it costs less to put
someone on death row then to support them in prison, which makes sense.
Although it definitely does not justify killing someone.
After watching
Dead Man Walking, I have to say it thoroughly surprised me. It provided me with
an array of perspective, ranging from the victims families to the committed
felon’s family. I wish the movie continued because id love to see what the
parents of the victims said after seeing their children’s murderer killed
before their eyes. The whole scene of his death was incredibly powerful because
I could see the fear in his eyes and I felt for him, despite how difficult
character he was to watch. It was interesting to watch the characters interact,
the tension between Sister Helen and Walter’s family and the inability to communicate
between Matthew’s family. I believe that there is a lesson in living the remainder of your life in prison and that our generation glorifies death in a very unhealthy way. Now this may be getting off topic but there are people are kill themselves but not many people commit crimes to serve time in prison. For people who do not believe in God and Heaven and hell, death may seem better than life. This movie only further proved to me how terrible the death penalty is and that it really does not do any good.
