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FDAlexandra Jankulovski
024574154
Professor Lynsey Ripley
CUL485-NBA
November 1st 2017
Analysis of Dead Man Walking and Eye for an Eye
Law and punishment has been a great debate since the beginning of time. Capital
punishment refers to the death penalty as the penalty for a homicide determined by the
government in the country where the crime was committed. Currently, the United States
is the only country in the west that still has the death penalty in effect, however, this is a
fairly recent change. Capital punishment is seen in many lights with many opposing
statistics on the matter, especially in the films ‘Dead Man Walking’, and ‘Eye for an
Eye’. The average cost of a death row case is around 2.4 million dollars and effects not
only the inmate but many involved in the case, which is why it is astonishing that 65
percent of today’s population still supports the death penalty. Therefore, capital
punishment should be ended in countries where this penalty still exists because it is
inhumane, ineffective, and unsympathetic.
There are many reasons why the death penalty is considered inhumane. This form of
capital punishments has been eliminated in all but five countries in the world, leaving the
U.S., China, North Korea, Yeman and Iran left with the cruel form of punishment.
Ironically, health professionals are forced by law on a daily basis to assist or perform the
task. The death penalty effects so many more than just the inmate and the victims loved
ones, it also effects the lives of those in the prison as well. For example, in the movie
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‘Dead Man Walking’ Matthew Poncelet, the defendant on death row, makes everyone’s
life miserable, including his own and throughout the story. We see how much Sister
Helen is effected by his case and his final days. In many cases, it has been reported that
the procedure has been done incorrectly and the inmate withstands excruciating pain with
no way of showing it due to the state of paralysis. The euthanasia process goes against
every rule that health care professionals live by and are asked to perform the task
regardless. “Although lethal injection mimics certain technical aspects of the practice of
anesthesia, capital punishment in any form is not the practice of medicine” (Amnesty,
2012). The government should not have the right to decide such decisions and “abolition
respects the autonomy of the individual; in not taking their lives for any reason, such a
policy grants the individual an absolute right to life, no matter” (Shaw, 2012). Lastly, the
