Dead Man Walking

My own personal feelings on the death penalty have always been vague. On one hand, a part of me appreciates the justice of killing a man who has raped, murdered, and showed no repentance. However, a larger part of me cries that killing a murderer is still murder, no matter what he has done. The film Dead Man Walking has affected my position on the death penalty, because it showed me that every person deserves life. As Sr. Helen said, "People are more than the worst thing they've done in their lives." Although I still see the justice and satisfaction of punishing a murderer and rapist with death, this movie shifted my opinion to be more opposed to the death penalty than I was before. Two new things I learned about the death penalty were, firstly, how often it is used, and secondly, how exactly lethal injection works. I never knew that dozens of people have been executed each year since the 1970s, a fact which shocked me. I also was not aware of how painful lethal injection actually is. I always thought that it simply put the prisoner into a sleep from which he never returned; I never imagined that it imploded first his lungs then the rest of his internal organs. To say the least, watching Dead Man Walking has changed my views on the use of the death penalty in America.