Amanda’s Comments (group member since Mar 23, 2009)

Amanda’s comments from the Gig Harbor AP Language reads Dead Man Walking group.

Going into Dead Man Walking and the whole time I was reading it, I was against the death penalty. But since I've been researching the other side of this issue for the debate we're having tomorrow, I'm not so sure anymore. Originally, I believed life imprisonment could be the best alternative but I've learned that these "life" sentences don't usually hold. A study I found said that criminals given a life sentence serve an average of 5 years and 11 months. That is no where near a life sentence. These murderers are back on the streets and are very able, and likely, to kill again.

Plus, when you hear of some of the horrible, disgusting crimes that some people have committed, life sentences don't seem like enough of a punishment. There was a story of a man who raped a young girl for about 30 hours then brutally murdered her... How is a life sentence enough for someone who can do something like that without feeling any remorse? It's sad that our society needs the death penalty as a punishment, because I do feel like it's cruel and wrong. I don't think that humans have the right to choose who lives or who dies. But while life sentences aren't being upheld, what else is going to serve true justice?

I don't really think this answers this question fully, but everyone talks about how the death penalty is wrong- when the alternatives aren't as great as everyone would like to believe.

So I guess I'm confused as to where I stand on the topic now :/

I thought Pat's last words added a lot of emotion to the story. He confessed his true feelings to Prejean, and as Ellen said it was emotion beyond sadness which made the story more complex. He loved Prejean because she cared for him and was really all he had during his last days. She was pretty much the only one all his life who ever cared about what happened to him. This definitely appealed to pathos because it reveals the relationship and emotions between Prejean and Pat. It also appeals to the reader's emotions as well becuase you can understand how they are feeling.

Well, I'm against the death penalty so I wouldn't think it was a just punishment, not just because it was a loved one of mine. I feel like the death penalty is just an easy way out because if they're sentenced to life in prison they have to live with what they did for the rest of their lives. When they're executed, another life is just lost and that does not solve a thing.

Hmm I feel like a lot of those punishments are a bit extreme and wouldn't actually do their intended job. For instance, if basically all crimes were punished by life in prison-what would people learn? Punishments are there to serve justice and teach lessons. So if everyone received life sentences, not only would the jails be extremely over crowded, but people would have no room to make mistakes. It is human nature to make mistakes, but it is a good thing because we learnand grow from them. Making one mistake and being sentenced to life in prison would teach nothing.

I'm in no way condoning murders, but I feel that justice has to be a case by case matter because each situation and person is different,so it can't be generalized.

I'm kinda nervous posting my own thread but here goes (:

So this far in Dead Man Walking Prejean focuses a lot on the injustices of execution by electric chair. I feel like most people agree that it is a cruel punishment, but what about other types of execution? Is it more just to execute people through lethal injection? Or does it not matter how they're being executed? (It's either just or unjust in general)