particular point of view. Sister Helen (Susan Sarandon) is called upon to work with a man on death row: Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn). Poncelet is presented as a thoroughly distasteful human being, one that the audience can scarce sympathize with at first. Yet as his immanent death approaches, Poncelet does change, however meaningless and futile that small change may be. His initial deceit fades into a frank recognition of his crime, and the audience is left to wonder if facing his mortality is really what triggered these psychological changes or whether he might have underwent a spiritual transformation while serving out a life sentence. Knowing what the… Continue Reading...
important argument against the death penalty is its discriminatory nature. Historically, African-Americans have been executed in greater numbers than whites, even for the same offenses. The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) notes that while 56% of death row inmates are black or Hispanic and despite the fact that racial minorities comprise half of all murder victims nationwide, a far greater proportion (77%) of the victims in capital convictions were white, indicating that the act of an African-American or Hispanic individual murdering a white person may lead to a higher conviction rate (Love 2012). Furthermore, the humanitarian watchdog group Amnesty International notes 20% of blacks nationwide wre convicted by all-white juries (Love 2012).
There is also a significant state-by-state discrepancy that can result in entirely different systems… Continue Reading...
that a nun has in attempting to comfort and help both a murderer on death row and the families of the victims he killed. The film was critically well-received and is able to strike a strong balance between the various arguments on capital punishment in a manner that is completely devoid of all preachy didactic qualities. The themes of the film are much subtler and still manage to create a very nuanced film about the unexpected friendship between two people.
Aside from the strong balance the filmmaker is able to strike, the strength of the film also lies in the fact that the actors… Continue Reading...
indicates the difficulty of proving and maintaining innocence. This is linked to the fact that even after being released from death row, Cook continues to maintain his innocence and is seeking a full and comprehensive exoneration. However, the difficulty of attaining innocence continues to be a daunting task with prosecutors going on with opposition of Cook's claims of actual innocence that would permit him to obtain compensation for the two years spent while on death row.
There are distinctive lessons that can be learnt from the article. One of the key perceptive lessons learnt from the article is that the investigative work undertaken by the Tyler police department was sloppy… Continue Reading...
