I can say without reservation that the work of Sister Helen Prejean has changed my views unlike any other intervention encountered in my brief life thus far. As a farm-boy raised in northwest Michigan, I was brought up to work hard, never do anything you cannot take back, and always know that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The ways of a Christian Reformed family have endowed me with my views of justice. I was taught that if you are willing to take a mans life, you had better know that your right to live has been forfeited. Life is a privilege; should you take that right from another, your right has hence been negated.

Sister Prejean set out on a mission, to change the views of the world. She states that the only reason support for capital punishment continues is “that people don’t know the truth of what is going on” (Prejean, 197.) Through her work with one man, Pat Sonnier, and the continued mission throughout her life, she has assuredly hit home with one reader. Dead Man Walking was written with the highest of intellectual standards, in a way which the reader feels no bias. She presents the facts, and they are undeniable. The United States is

Statistics assuredly portray the inequality of race in relations to executions; both past and present. Is this to say that our country still actively participates in discrimination? Sister Prejean points out in her book numerous times the lack of knowledge in regards to death penalty statistics and the American people. Could it be that America is openly practicing executions based upon race, hate crimes if you will, and the public is unbeknownst to the fact? I don’t have the answer to that; there is no scale to measure or describe the feelings of a judge and jury. The issue of racism is not something that can be quantitatively assessed. However, the numbers do not lie; there lies a great disparity between the relations of race and death sentences.

The aforementioned poverty rates hint to my next point; legal counsel. Due to their financial situation, poor people in capital cases receive unbelievably substandard legal services (ACLU). Sister Prejean addresses the implications of poverty in a capital case;

In the event of a poverty stricken defendant, the government provides counsel for the alleged; it is our right. However, this counsel is oft ill paid. Most states pay their court appointed lawyers $20-$40 per hour, with some limiting reimbursement to as low as $2000 for services (ACLU). A study from the ACLU shows that in order to “prepare a legally adequate defense in a capital case,” an aggregate of 1900 hours are necessary. As a construction worker, I know plenty of men pounding nails for well over these wages, and they do not have law school or the responsibility of another’s life to bear in mind. The state provided counsel is not to blame; they are human. In fact, Prejean and the ACLU both point out that many times a capital case is handed to attorneys who have no experience in the matter. My opinion of the matter is that the state is “stacking the deck” so to speak. In cases with indigent defendants, an appointed lawyer is dealt, and the alleged is forced to play with that hand. The bottom line to the poverty issue is this; if you have money, and a good amount of it, you will not be executed in the “Justice” system of the United States.

The only judge worthy of taking a life is the Lord, and a government who feels the right to do so is playing God. The legal system and its participants are as human and sinful as the alleged killer sitting in the courtroom. To say t

Some topics in this essay:
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