Many of the townspeople clearly state that they are for it and want Dick Hickock and Perry Smith dead. Another factor of this is, Garden City, Kansas is the most religious part of Kansas, and even they voted for the death penalty. If they would have had the trial some place else in Kansas, then i wonder if they would have still gotten the death penalty, knowing that anywhere else in Kansas did not know the Clutters. Although religion does not go along way to help out Dick and Perry, but why doesn’t the law? The law is there for a reason, to follow it, why doesn’t the law come into play for the death penalty?
Do criminals given a death sentence face just punishment? Capote strongly disagrees with the death sentence, as his use of details and syntax clearly demonstrate to the reader. First of all, most of the relatives of the victims were not supportive of the punishment chosen for Dick and Perry. Mrs. Clutter’s brother said that “he did not feel the defendants should be put to death.” If the person who should have the most anger towards the two criminals disagrees with a death sentence, it follows that Dick and Perry’s punishment may not be appropriate.
Because of the arguments hinted at by Truman Capote in In Cold Blood, there will always be debate on whether capital punishment should be used for certain crimes. One can never be sure if a punishment, whether as mild as jail time or as severe as the death penalty, is justified for the crime
Capote’s way of making the reader question the criminal justice system and the death penalty is bizarre. Capote makes us feel pathos for Perry Smith and builds tension and uniquely uses imagery and detailed exploration of the characters to make us understand. It’s like we’re overseers and we experience what Dick and Perry’s journey was like on the run. To feel what they felt, to understand why they were treated so poorly and why they shouldn’t have been hung. That maybe deep down there was a chance these two could have been redeemed as human beings again and that they overuse the death penalty instead of trying to help the criminals reform
After most people hear what Perry has gone through you immediately give him a get out of jail free card right? You think that since he had a difficult upbringing he should be exempt from receiving the death penalty? Although you may think this, this is certainly not an excuse for such a violent act. Throughout In Cold Blood, Capote attempts to portray to the reader that Smith in a way should be exempt from the crime he commited and how one should not blame it on Smith himself, but his psychological background. Specifically when Al Dewey, the head of the Clutter murder investigation, states how the crime was not in fact Smiths fault.
Now, there is no direct quote from Capote discussing his view on this issue, but it can be reasonably inferred by the quote’s presence in the novel that he would argue each citizen to think about how and why the death sentence is actually used. Capote himself would most likely not agree with this stance, but it seems to be the way it is. The innocent men and women of the town were baffled and torn by the scene of the gruesome murder, and they needed a relief, which in this case, was the death of Perry and Dick. Clearly, the death penalty can be used as a way to comfort the people in a time of distress.
I’m going to be talking about three reasons they should get the death penalty, which are: They killed the family to get money, how brutal the murder was, and how they made people feel bad for them after the murder. Perry and Dick went into the Clutter’s house one night to get their money. Someone told them there was $10,000 in the house when there really wasn’t. They started tearing the whole house up, they were taking up the floors, tearing down the walls, asking them where the money was.
Perry and Dick have murdered 4 people and have been caught, they have been put on the death penalty. They have been put into different cells, the family that was killed were called the clutters, when Perry killed them he didn't know what he was doing. Perry and Dick should both get the death penalty because Perry had killed the family and even if Dick didn't he was still considered an accomplice in the murder and no one is sure if he did kill even one them or not. Many people may say that Perry and Dick are insane or crazy, but they killed those people because they wanted to.
This created some conflict in Holcomb over capital punishment and whether it was just or not based on their own interpretations of the Bible. Capote had his own belief when naming the book, “In Cold Blood” which was a reference to the punishment of the murderers and how they were killed. This allusion to the death of Dick and Perry highlights Capote’s belief on capital punishment. The use of allusions in In Cold Blood was to show how religion is used as justification for what a person believes is
Consequently, that does not mean that everyone will react or repent the same way. People say punishment needs to fit the crime, while I say that it needs to fit the person for maximum effect on behavior to cause a change. Someone given the death sentence such as Perry already had family members who committed suicide, meaning he very well could have wanted to die to not have to live with the guilt. Then there are others who, if given a life instead of death sentence, would go right back to killing and breaking the law as soon as they were out of jail or even while still in jail. However, I still believe that justice was served as in the American justice system, we must not give different sentences for the same crime and same level of
Based on parts of the novel, it can be inferred that Capote is against the death penalty through unfair judging. In the story, Dick and Perry commit murder on a family of seven for reasons that isn’t truthfully explained. When the two were on trial, Capote believes they weren’t defended properly because they were given a state attorney. “I do not desire
Perry Smith should not be disciplined with the death penalty. Smith has been through a lot throughout his life and this is not the proper punishment for him. This choice of discipline is not fair and should be overlooked. Smith was not in his right state of mind; he suffered from childhood trauma , and also he is very remorseful. Let's go into depth of why Smith is innocent of the murder of the Clutter family.
In the village of Holcomb, Kansas a wealthy family, the Clutters, was murdered on November 14, 1959. Dick Hickock and Perry Smith were convicted of these murders and received the death penalty. In Truman Capote’s novel In Cold Blood, the audience receives different viewpoints on why Dick and Perry either deserved the death penalty or not. Though the decision to sentence someone to death should be based on the truth, the truth is not always easy to define; Capote shows this through his depiction of the controversial executions of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. Criminal punishment is an immensely ongoing controversial and societal issue in the United States, Europe and other parts of the world.
Although some may argue otherwise, Dick and Perry should not have received the death penalty because it is expensive, courts can make mistakes and the murder rate is higher in states with the death penalty. Dick and Perry should not have received the death penalty because the cost of the death penalty is greater than life in prison. Due to all the appeals before the final verdict the alternative since would be less expensive. According to Text#2 “The death penalty is and always had been a financial and moral disaster.”
The late, Louis Pojman, was a great American philosopher, who was known for his many writings such as A Defense of the Death Penalty. The death penalty has always been a very touchy subject for most people. People have their views of what they consider right or wrong. Philosopher Pojman was pro-death penalty, so naturally he had some who agreed with him and some that did not. As I read the “Best Bet” argument my opinion of murderers is that they deserve to be killed for their horrid actions.
