Dead Death Closure

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Capital Punishment: Providing Closure or Causing Problems? In the movie Dead Man Walking, Earl Delacroix, the father of a murder victim, is seen at the funeral of the murderer, Matthew Poncelet, after his execution. While there, he says that he hasn’t found the peace he thought he would have after Matthew was executed and that his heart was still filled with hatred (Dead Man Walking.) This is the case for many families, capital punishment may give the impression that the murder victim’s family gains closure from the execution of the murderer, but that is rarely the case; even years after the execution has taken place, some family members of the victim suffer from unresolved grief and the murderer’s family is also affected in a negative manner. Capital Punishment is often viewed as the “right” option to put the families out of their pain and suffering, but in many cases, it’s just not effective in providing closure for the families and might make things worse; therefore, it should not be a valid reason for execution. Capital Punishment as Closure The promise of closure seems like an illusion more than a reality; the idea of it suffers from the assumption that the murder victims’ families’ desire that the offender be executed in order to feel liberated from grief and all the pain that the criminal has caused. According to Berns, closure is something many families of victims’ pursue, but do not often achieve and it has become a protruding cultural narrative for defining the needs of the victims’ and also the broader concept of justice. Those that are for capital punishment and those who are oppose it don’t really have a true definition for the word and argue whether it exists or not. There are many arguments on how to achieve c... ... middle of paper ... .... The term “closure” in the legal context does not have a true definition because most of the people define it in their own words; the families are lead to believe that with the death penalty, all of their problems will go away and that they will experience a sense of relief and the majority don’t. That is why most families that have lost a family member to murder are against capital punishment simply because it fails in accomplishing the promise of closure. The victims’ family are not the only ones that undergo suffering; so does the family of the murderer and they feel about the same as the victims’ family when it comes to losing someone they love dearly; although, little is known of them and they are seen as unpleasant people at times. So is closure really a good enough “excuse” to execute a human being or does it bring with it more problems to deal with?

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