Sister Helen Believes Willie example essay topic

The Death Penalty: A Controversial Issue Dead Man Walking is a powerful movie based upon the controversial issue, the death penalty. This unique movie tells of the death penalty from all sides and not just one. Dead Man Walking, the movie is based on the book, Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. Sister Helen Prejean tells of her life experiences as a nun embarking on a dangerous journey with a convicted murderer. Honoring the request of a lonely and desperate man, Sister Helen (Susan Sarandon) writes to Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn, ) the condemned killer of two teenage lovers, and is completely unprepared for the relationship soon to follow. Soon after Sister Helen and Matthew meet, a date is set for Matthew's execution.

He then asks Helen to be his spiritual advisor while on death row. With the clock ticking away the final days before his execution, Helen struggles for the life, dignity, and the soul of a confused and angry Matthew Poncelet. In the end, it is Helen's faith and fierce courage that sustain her when she watches Matthew's execution (Dead Man Walking). The movie is based on true events and through these events many different opinions are brought about when dealing with the death penalty. "Dead Man Walking" is a film full of heart. It is a story of redemption and unconditional love, but it is also about violence and our own capacity for violence and revenge.

The movie brings forth all dimensions of the death penalty. The movie allows the viewer to view all sides, the death row inmate and his family, the prison officials involved in the execution, and the suffering of the murder victim's families. The movie shows one victim's family who are completely for revenge, and because of their loss an audience can sympathize. But the movie also focuses on a murder victim's father who is seeking to find a forgiving heart in hopes that hate does not overtake him (Dead Man Walking). Sister Helen Prejean is the author of Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. At first, she was hesitant to have a movie produced based on her book.

Sister Helen worked alongside director, Tim Robbins on the script to make sure all information was correctly displayed. The script was finalized after draft number five, and Sister Helen was not uncomfortable with any aspect of the movie (Feister). Helen thinks of the movie and says, "I like to think of it as an amplifier for a song, only now the song is louder and more people can hear it" (Moroney). Sister Helen re-lived many harsh memories while helping to produce Dead Man Walking but hopes for the first time people will think about the death penalty in a way they had never thought of before (Angels: Interviews: Prejean). Sister Helen Prejean was born April 21, 1939, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and has lived and worked in Louisiana all her life. She joined the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Meda ille in 1957.

Helen was the Religious Education Director at Saint Frances Cabrini Parish in New Orleans and was Formation Director for her religious community. She began to involve herself with the poor community and soon began to help out with the Saint Thomas Housing Project in New Orleans in 1981. This led her to prison ministry where Helen counseled death row inmates in the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Discrimination). She has accompanied three men to the electric chair and witnessed all three of their deaths (Helen). Since then, she has devoted her life to educating the public about the death penalty by lecturing, organizing, and writing. She also makes herself available to victim's families in hopes that she can become a spiritual comfort to them in their times of sorrow and grief.

She has organized the group "Survive" for this very reason (Discrimination). The big-hearted woman has a simple explanation for how she became so compassionate: I was hosed down with love by my parents. I was poured over with love and affirmation. If I don't give that back, then I'm seriously defective. I see it as a matter of justice, not a charity. I've got to do this or-I'll explode or something (Feister).

Sister Helen relies on God for her dynamic ability to draw people in and reach out to others as well (Feister). The title of the film and book come from the words that the guards at San Quentin Prison are said to have yelled when a death row inmate was released from his cell: "Dead Man Walking" (Feister). The movie, Dead Man Walking combined the stories of the first two men Sister Helen Prejean counseled and accompanied to Death Row: Elmo Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie. The actual crimes took place years and miles apart. On November 4, 1977, Sonnier and his younger brother, Eddie, kidnapped a young couple.

The two men raped the girl and beat her boyfriend. They tied the boyfriend to a tree and eventually shot him in the back of the head. On May 28, 1980, Willie and a friend, Joe Vaccaro, kidnapped a young girl, raped her, and stabbed her repeatedly in the neck (Buchanan). Robert Lee Willie seemed to have followed in his father's footsteps in establishing himself as a convict. His father, John Willie spent 27 of his 53 years behind bars (DeParle). Willie supported himself for many years by driving a truck, working on a river boat, selling drugs, and stealing.

Willie was arrested many times even managing to escape at times. After escaping, he soon reunited with a friend from jail, Joseph Jesse Vaccaro. The two remained close and survived by living off their "dope income". Five months after Willie and Vaccaro were reunited the two came upon the young girl, Faith Hathaway. The two men offered to give Faith a ride home one night and that soon proved to be a fatal mistake.

Willie and Vaccaro blindfolded Faith and raped her once in the back of their Ford. They continued driving until they reached a completely wooded area and then took Faith deep into the woods. The men raped her again and then began stabbing her repeatedly. After being stabbed 17 times, Faith eventually lost her life, but Willie and Vaccaro continued to torture Faith even after her death (DeParle). Several days later, Willie and Vaccaro came upon 20-year-old Mark Brewster and his 16-year-old girlfriend, Debbie Morris. The two men kidnapped the couple and drove them to Alabama, raping Debbie along the way.

The couple was led into the woods and Mark was tied to a tree, tortured, stabbed, shot, and abandoned. Willie and Vaccaro took Debbie with them and kept her for approximately 30 hours. They men raped her again before she was released (DeParle). Debbie Morris testified that Robert Lee Willie was the leader of the two and was the one calling the shots (Angel: Interviews: Morris). Willie and Vaccaro were arrested. Vaccaro was sentenced to life and Willie was sentenced to death (Buchanan).

While in prison, Willie told inmates, "If I ever get out of here, I'm gonna cut that bitch up into so many pieces even her mother won't recognize her". But with a heart of gold, Sister Helen Prejean stood alongside Robert Lee Willie and sought to give him spiritual advice in hopes that he would repent. Helen agreed that Willie's behavior was "anomalistic" and his acts were heinous, but does not think anyone has the right to kill another even if it is merely punishment (Angel: Interviews: Prejean). Sister Helen stated: I mean people do heinous, terrible things. But there are basic human rights I believe that every human being has. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the United Nations says it for me.

And it says there are two basic rights that can't be negotiated that government doesn't give for good behavior and doesn't take away for bad behavior. And that is the right not to be tortured and not to be killed (Angel: Interviews: Prejean). Helen believes that every human has the right to live and no body should take that right away for any reason. She believes that no matter the crime committed anyone can be transformed.

She feels that killing individuals for punishment is only an act of human despair (Helen). It is true that Sister Helen Prejean is completely against the death penalty, however; no one else that was involved in the two horrifying crimes seem to be for it in any form or fashion. Vernon Have, Faith Hathaway's stepfather says he would like to "throw the switch that sends electricity surging through the body of Robert Lee Willie". He will settle for being there when the state executes Willie and will be happy to see smoke fly off his body and realize he is dead (Fahey). Faith's mother said: They say it is cruel and unusual punishment.

But I'd like for the newspapers to publish the coroner's report on the death of Faith next to the story of Willie's execution and show how she suffered before she died at the hands on Robert Lee Willie. I am thankful Robert Lee Willie will never be able to murder again (McMahon). Morris says she was numb after Willie was executed. She felt relived to know she no longer had to be scared of him (Angel: Interview: Morris). Robert Lee Willie was wearing blue jeans, a white sweatshirt, and white slippers on the night of his execution. He was struck with 2,000 volts of electricity for ten seconds, and then 500 volts for 20 seconds.

The sequence was repeated once more and Willie was pronounced dead at 12: 15 AM (DeParle). Sister Helen believes Willie showed sorrow and remorse about the grief and pain he caused to victim's families. She states, "Robert, if he had the chance, was beginning to change" (McMahon). The Death penalty has always been a controversial issue and will remain that way in years to come. It is with an issue such as this that it is hard to make a personal judgment based simply on a book or movie, however; Dead Man Walking allows viewers to view a controversial from all many perspectives. Dead Man Walking draws viewers in before they even realize it, and forces them to think of where they might stand on such an important issue as the death penalty.

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