Dead Man Walking

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions of violent crime, including murder and rape, along with the emotional anguish suffered by the victims’ families. It also goes into graphic detail regarding the execution of prisoners.

“I found myself mentally pitting my arguments against her challenge—we were nuns, not social workers, not political. But it’s as if she knew what I was thinking. he pointed out that to claim to be apolitical or neutral in the face of such injustices would be, in actuality, to uphold the status quo—a very political position to take, and on the side of the oppressors.”

Prejean had spent many years as a nun prior to engaging in social justice activism. There have long been debates within the Catholic Church whether those engaged in a life of ministry (such as nuns) should prioritize prayer, worship, and education (especially education in the faith) or engage in the sociopolitical issues of one’s community. Prejean long held off from the latter for fear of taking a political stance, but whereas Jesus was obviously not a partisan in the modern sense, Prejean came to see his actions as fiercely political in that they challenged the authority of the day. Prejean would soon discover how speaking truth to power was a critical aspect of her mission.

“If someone I love should be killed, I know I would feel rage, loss, grief, helplessness, perhaps for the rest of my life. It would be arrogant to think I can predict how I would respond to such a disaster. But Jesus Christ, whose way of life I try to follow, refused to meet hate with hate and violence with violence. I pray for the strength to be like him. I cannot believe in a God who metes out hurt for hurt, pain for pain, torture for torture. Nor do I believe that God invests human representatives with such power to torture and kill.”

As strongly as Prejean believes that the death penalty is unjust, she is modest in her own views and those of others. She recognizes that her experiences have allowed her to view violent crime dispassionately and analytically. As strong a case she might make regarding the structural injustices of capital punishment, that may not move someone with a deep emotional urge to wish death upon another. Prejean concludes that this does not mean that moral convictions are fundamentally emotional, only that emotions present their own kind of moral truth, which can be extremely difficult to dislodge.