Dead Man Walking - 802 Words

Critical Reflection: Restorative and Retributive Justice and Culture of Life and Death By: Maria Camila Cuellar â€Å"Dead man walking† is an expression often used by a police officer when accompanying a criminal walking towards his death. How can a dead man walk? This is a contradicting sentence that makes no sense. It dehumanizes the person walking and lets the person know that is going to die for the infraction committed. This is one of the last sentences Matthew Poncelot in the movie â€Å"Dead Man Walking† heard. Ironically, the last sentence Matthew said was â€Å"I love you†. How was he able to express love in such a â€Å"culture of death†, surrounded by people that hated him and wanted him to die? This was part of Sister Helen’s job, to build a†¦show more content†¦The media and society tells us that we will be happy when we have what we want. It implies that people that look in a certain way will be happier. It makes me feel frustrated and sad because it is very shallow to think that money can buy happiness. In my o pinion happiness is a combination of love, hope, gratefulness and patience. I also realized that culture of death is linked with restorative justice; it brings death to the offender who is viewed as less worthy of life because of the mistakes he/she made. In the same way, culture of life is linked to retributive justice; the point of this approach to justice is not to harm anyone so it does not bring a culture of death to anyone, instead it uses the love of forgiveness and conciliation to help the offender and the victim. By studying the concepts of culture of death and life, retributive and restorative justice, I have discovered another way to bring culture of life to my life and everyone surrounding me: to use retributive justice whenever someone hurts me. Using restorative justice will only bring more hatred to me and the people that surround me and revenge is not the point of justice, the point of justice is to construct a healthy society, this can only be reached with retributive justice. I also learned that money cannot buy happiness and being fully alive does not mean to have what I want, but to love everyone, knowing this is very helpful in my lifeShow MoreRelated Dead Man Walking Essay1110 Words   |  5 Pages DEAD MAN WALKING nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Dead Man Walking is a great book that deals with one of our nations most controversial issues: capital punishment. The books narrator, Sister Helen Prejean, discusses her personal views on capital punishment. She was a spiritual advisor and friend to two death row inmates; Elmo Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie. From her experiences, she developed views on the death penalty. She believed it was morally wrong and spoke openly about it. Sister HelenRead MoreFilm Analysis of Dead Man Walking Essay2088 Words   |  9 PagesFilm Analysis of Dead Man Walking For many years, the death penalty has been a punishment for severe crimes. However, the law has long moved on since then, and more humane ways of death have been devised for the few states where the death penalty is still legal. Lethal injection is now the main way of carrying out the penalty, and Texas is the state that uses it most. It is a very controversial punishment and the moral issues of it have been debated for a very longRead MoreA Comparison Of Dead Man Walking And Dead Man Walking1340 Words   |  6 Pages Just that nobody comes back. Maybe death is a gift.† says David, in the movie the life of David Gale. Dead Man Walking and The Life of David Gale are two movies like a very alike yet very different. These movies are both great movies in their own way. The Life of David Gale and Dead Man Walking have an abundant amount of similarities and numerous differences. The movies Dead Man Walking is a 1995 American crime drama film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, and co-produced and directedRead MoreDead Man Walking1871 Words   |  8 PagesDead Man Walking The film, Dead Man Walking was made in 1995, and was adopted from Sister Helen Prejean s 1993 autobiographical book, which has the same title. It examines one of the most highly debated controversial issues of our time - capital punishment. Since the protagonist of a film is regarded as the good guy, I would apply this label to Sister Helen Prajean, played by Susan Sarandon, and that of the antagonist, or the bad guy to Matthew Poncelet, played by Sean Penn. HoweverRead More Dead Man Walking Essay1074 Words   |  5 Pages Dead Man Walking nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The film â€Å"Dead Man Walking† is a film about redemption. The film is directed by Tim Robbins. Susan Sarandon plays a Nun called Sister Helen Prejean. She is asked by a convicted murderer to get him a lawyer, and then later is asked to be his spiritual advisor. The convicted killer is named Matthew Poncelet, and he is played by Sean Penn. The film is set in the Angola state penitentiary, in Louisiana. Matthew Poncelet first asks her to get him aRead MoreAnalysis Of The Movie Dead Man Walking 1564 Words   |  7 PagesThe 1995 film Dead Man Walking portrays the story of Sister Helen Prejean as she struggles to serve as a spiritual advisor to Louisiana death row inmate Matthew Poncelet. The film scrutinizes and criticizes the practice of capital punishment in the United States. The narrative is constructed in such a way that the audience is encouraged to draw their own conclusions, moving through an experience exposed and open to all its effects. It is a sensitive and complex look at Christian forgiveness in theRead MoreAnalysis Of The Film Dead Man Walking 798 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction The theoretical perspective I found most convincing when analyzing the behavior of the main character, Mathew Poncelot, in the film, Dead Man Walking, are the ideologies of sociologist Max Weber. He believed that rather than only focusing on one’s social actions, it is instead important to understand why people do the things that they do (Long-Crowell). Empathizing with individuals and identifying their perspectives explains one’s rationales behind each choice and behavior (Long-Crowell)Read More Dead Man Walking: The Death Penalty Essay1033 Words   |  5 Pages I believe that the movie Dead Man Walking impacted my life greatly. It was a very emotional and moving movie. This was an excellent movie because it portrayed the feelings of both the families of the victims and the murder himself. It shows how much pain and suffering the families had to go through with all the sadness and hatred against Matthew Poncelant. The movie also showed how that the families hatred did not go away after Matthew was executed. The greatest emotional part of the movie wasRead MoreSister Helen Prejeans Dead Man Walking Essay1018 Words   |  5 PagesSister Helen Prejeans Dead Man Walking Dead Man Walking was an autobiography written by Sister Helen Prejean. The novel tells about Prejeans life in dealing with her intimate journey through her dealings with capital punishment. Prejean was a Roman Catholic nun that worked in St. Thomas. She worked in a New Orleans housing project for black residents. In January of 1982, Prejean was asked to be a pen pal with a death row inmate named Pat Sonnier. Prejean accepted because she believedRead More Should A Dead Man Have To Walk? Essay1136 Words   |  5 Pages Normally, due to the pain and suffering content, I do not partake in the viewing of movies such as Dead Man Walking; directed by Tim Robbins; starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. However, this is an opinion paper and I enjoy expressing my opinion when asked. The film is based on the nonfiction book by Sister Helen Prejean. In the film, a Louisiana nun becomes spiritual advisor to a convict on death row, and tries to get him to accept responsibility for his actio ns. I believe religion and the death