Death Penalty in America, Legal Studies 485, Spring 2003

 

 05-01-03

 

Class Discussion Questions

 

  1. How does Sister Prejean resolve the moral dilemma she identifies as: “The victims are dead and the killer is alive and I am befriending the killer.”  (P. 21-22)

 

  1. What is Sister Prejean’s relationship with the Catholic priest who is the Prison Chaplain?  (P. 25, 90)

 

  1. Do Eddie and Patrick Sonnier seem remorseful?  Does it matter?  (P. 38-42)

 

  1. Where did Eddie and Patrick go wrong?  What would it have taken for them to have been law-abiding, productive members of society?

 

  1. Who is Millard Farmer?  What are the mistakes he identifies that Sonnier’s trial lawyer made?  What is his analysis of who gets the death penalty, and why?   (P. 45-53)

 

  1. What is the governor’s “moral niche”?  How does politics influence his decisions about clemency? (P. 57) What about the Board of Pardons?

 

  1. Why would people call Sister Prejean a Communist?  Why were the victims’ families so upset with her?  (P. 63-66)

 

  1. How is the process of executing Pat Sonnier different from (or similar to) the executions we learned about in the two videos?

 

  1. How does Sister Prejean explain her moral belief that the death penalty is wrong?  What does she rely on?  What is your moral opinion of the death penalty?  What do you base it on?

 

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