This week most of our class was taken up by presentations, with a short activity at the end. The activity at the end was about what our class perceived to be the big take home message for Zimbardo (2008) book. My group thought it was that ordinary individuals such as Fredrick in Abu Gharib or John Landry in the experiment, could dehumanize people due to the power of the situation. Neither of these men were bad to start, but committed evil actions against others due to the dehumanization aspect during a specific situation. This made me think back to the presentation on capital punishment and the evilness behind it. These ordinary men and women who have to kill someone based on simply the power of situation have to dehumanize them to get the job done. Does this mean people have this evil inside of them or does the situation just bring it out? And is dehumanizing someone to commit these acts just as evil?
There are very few depictions of this in the media, and since it is allowed in very few states it is not common in the media. That does not mean it does not happen, and does not affect all individuals involved. In the new movie Clemency, a prison warden battles with her own morals while conducting executions on death row (Fagerholm, 2019). The film goes through not only her life but the man she has to help execute, even when he claims innoncence. When he is being executed, his last words go to this prison warden and asks for God to have mercy on the people who are taking his life (Fagerholm, 2019). This guard then experiences this execution like never before and finally feels that horror that makes capital punishment so evil. This film goes into the dehumanization aspect of capital punishment as she only goes through the motions with this man and does not become personally attached nor ask personal questions about him in an effort to distance herself from the act she is about to commit. Does this make her evil as she finally feels the emotions at the end? Or does it make her human, as she is only doing a job that is required of her and is trying to make it manageable?
These questions made me think even more about evil being a grey area. Especially in regards to something like capital punishment, where there are arguments for both sides. This movie made me see those that help to commit these actions as people too and that they may have difficulty with working in this field and feel emotions about it too. This made these individuals seem less evil to me. What do you think?
Prison wardens and executioners can have varying opinions on the death penalty. Some may only do it to simply have a job and others may feel that capital punishment is just in some circumstances. Bandes (2016) examined executioners, wardens and other staff who worked on death row and their attitudes about capital punishment. Many of them said that they believed retribution was key in reforming convicts, therefore meaning that their time in prison must mean something. Further, they shared a commonality: death row inmates change over time and can be redeemed (Bandes, 2016). If so many people working on death row in the US believe that inmates on death row can redeem themselves and change as people, why do they still commit these acts?
Overall, I believe that we cannot just sit and judge these people who work on death row. For many, they have differing opinions on capital punishment and can still see the good in people. In order to commit these actions then if they perceive the inmates as being able to change for the better, they must dehumanize them in order to be able to carry out these actions. Does this make them evil or just simply people trying to figure out how best to handle the situation they are in? This is a question I am wrestling with and would love to hear some thoughts!
References:
Bandes, S. A. (2016). What Executioners Can—and Cannot—Teach Us About the Death Penalty. Criminal Justice Ethics, 35(3), 183–200. https://doi-org.proxy1.lib.trentu.ca/10.1080/0731129X.2016.1238606
Fagerholm, M. (2019, December 27). Clemency movie review and film summary. Roger Ebert. Retrieved from https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/clemency-movie-review-2019
Zimbardo, P. (2008). The Lucifer effect: Understanding how good people turn evil. New York, NY: Random House Trade Paperbacks.
Harper's Psyc 4720 Blog 