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What Does In Cold Blood Say About The Death Penalty

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In Cold Blood: What It Says About The Death Penalty
The death penalty has always been a controversial topic. After the time spent on In Cold Blood, there is no wonder why talk show hosts and news programs wanted to speak to Capote to hear his opinion. After reading the book myself, I have come to the conclusion that Capote did indeed formulate an opinion on the death sentence, though one could tell that he made an attempt to stay unbiased. Throughout the book Capote leaves bits and pieces an opinion within the text. With in-text evidence to support this claim, Truman Capote did not believe the death penalty was ethical or a necessity.
One of the big issues that Capote says conflicts with the death penalty is religion. He talks about Garden City’s religious community, stating, “... even the Reverend Cowan, the Clutters’ own minister and a close friend of the family, he’s been preaching against the death penalty in the very case” (266). This is not the only time Capote writes something like this though. Later in the book Capote quotes Fleming, the defense attorney who attempted to appeal to christianity in the Clutter case, on capital punishment; “It is a relic of human barbarism. The law tells us that the taking of human life is wrong, then goes ahead and sets the example. Which is almost as wicked …show more content…

The Clutter case is a prime example of this bias that passes through into court unfiltered. One of the jurors had actually stated, "... that ordinarily he was against it, but in this case no,” (326). Anyone can hear about a case and then become dead set on a decision before the actual trial even takes place. But the main issue here is that it’s not just a typical punishment, because this punishment ends in death. The death penalty is unfair as it is committing a murderer to the same treatment that they are being condemned for. The law should hold itself to it’s own standards in order to be

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