Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate QUOTES

2 " In sorting out my feelings and beliefs, there is, however, one piece of moral ground of which I am absolutely certain: if I were to be murdered I would not want my murderer executed. I would not want my death avenged. Especially by government--which can't be trusted to control its own bureaucrats or collect taxes equitably or fill a pothole, much less decide which of its citizens to kill. "

― Helen Prejean , Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate

4 " I realize that I cannot stand by silently as my government executes its citizens. If I do not speak out and resist, I am an accomplice. "

― Helen Prejean , Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate

6 " I have no doubt that we will one day abolish the death penalty in America. It will come sooner if people like me who know the truth about executions do our work well and educate the public. It will come slowly if we do not. Because, finally, I know that it is not a question of malice or ill will or meanness of spirit that prompts our citizens to support executions. It is, quite simply, that people don't know the truth of what is going on. That is not by accident. The secrecy surrounding executions makes it possible for executions to continue. I am convinced that if executions were made public, the torture and violence would be unmasked, and we would be shamed into abolishing executions. We would be embarrassed at the brutalization of the crowds that would gather to watch a man or woman be killed. And we would be humiliated to know that visitors from other countries - Japan, Russia, Latina America, Europe - were watching us kill our own citizens - we, who take pride in being the flagship of democracy in the world. (p. 197) "

― Helen Prejean , Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate

8 " if we believe that murder is wrong and not admissible in our society, then it has to be wrong for everyone, not just individuals but governments as well. And I end by challenging people to ask themselves whether we can continue to allow the government, subject as it is to every imaginable form of inefficiency and corruption, to have such power to kill. (p. 130) "

― Helen Prejean , Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate

10 " Don't you miss having a man? Don't you want to get married?"
He [Patrick Sonnier] is simple and direct. I'm simple and direct back.
I tell him that even as a young woman I didn't want to marry one man and have one family, I always wanted a wider arena for my love. But intimacy means a lot to me, I tell him. "I have close friends - men and women. I couldn't make it without intimacy."
"Yeah?" he says.
"Yeah," I say. "But there's a costly side to celibacy, too, a deep loneliness sometimes. There are moments, especially on Sunday afternoons, when I smell the smoke in the neighborhood from family barbecues, and feel like a fool not to have pursued a "normal" life. But, then, I've figured out that loneliness is part of everyone's life, part of being human - the private, solitary part of us that no one else can touch." (p. 127) "

― Helen Prejean , Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate

12 " Who killed this man [Patrick Sonnier]?
Nobody.
Everybody can argue that he or she was just doing a job - the governor, the warden, the head of the Department of Corrections, the district attorney, the judge, the jury, the Pardon Board, the witnesses to the execution. Nobody feels personally responsible for the death of this man. (p. 101) "

― Helen Prejean , Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate

14 " The prospect that a person will be killed according to the policy he promulgates prompts the [priest] to urge clemency, an incomprehensible position logically. "

― Helen Prejean , Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate

16 " Well, ma’am that’s hard to do because Vernon Harvey keeps holding these press conferences, mouthin’ off about how he can’t wait to see me fry. Personally, I think the guy is his own worst enemy. He just needs to let it go, man. The girl’s dead now, and there’s nothin’ he can do to bring her back. Even watchin’ me fry ain’t gonna bring her back, but he won’t let it go and he’s just makin’ himself miserable, in my opinion. "

― Helen Prejean , Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate

18 " I can't accept that any group of human beings is trustworthy enough to mete out so ultimate and irreversible a punishment as death. "

― Helen Prejean , Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate

20 " A society that is unable to convince individuals of its ability to exact atonement for injury is a society that runs a constant risk of having its members revert to the wilder forms of [vigilante] justice … "

― Helen Prejean , Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate