How Is George Milton Justified

George Milton was Justified Murder is considered an unforgivable and immoral act of cruelty. However, under certain circumstances, it may not be so clear-cut and straightforward. In John Steinbeck’s book, Of Mice and Men, George Milton makes a decision to kill his friend, Lennie Smalls. This was because Lennie had killed a woman, not fully understanding what he was doing because of his intellectual disability. Afterwards, he was hunted by his merciless coworkers for the crime. George’s actions were justified because he saved Lennie from prison, a death sentence, or a mental institution. If George had not killed Lennie and he had been arrested, Lennie's Life in prison would consist of violence, abuse, and poor living conditions. In the article,“History: Prison Condition,” by Center For Prison Reform, it states that inmates were chained and caged in closets, left naked, abused frequently, and had no available treatment for those that were mentally ill. Moreover, Lennie would likely be beaten or isolated by other inmates because of his disability. If Lennie was unable to understand most actions and without any allies to help him, he would not survive long in prison.

The court could deem Lennie incompetent to stand trial because of his handicap, he would be held for treatment for an unknown period of time. Therefore, making him unable to defend himself at all. If Lennie is deemed competent to stand in court, his main defence would have been insanity, which is difficult to prove. The defense of insanity means that the defendant did not know the nature and quality of the act he was doing because of mental illness. With his lack of solid defense and people, such as his former coworkers, being against him, he would be given the death penalty. It would make him die because of suffocation from a hanging or from lethal