Perry Smith Should Not Be Disciplined With The Death Penalty

Everyone is born with the capability to do evil, however, the events and environment in our lives shape our psyche to such an irrefutably extreme extent that they define our character and our conscience, redefining what we see as right and wrong. Perry is very sensitive by nature due to his family’s troubles and his father’s behavior. The pressure that Perry feels to impress Dick, who he makes into a faux father figure, combined with the weight of his past push him to the breaking point which happens to be the Clutter murders. Perry was bound by his experience, he could never fully escape the horrors of his childhood as they were the limits of his apprehension. Regardless of Perry’s traumatic childhood, justice must be equally upheld to everyone, despite the differences in the ways we were raised. While nurture may be the primary factor in deciding why Perry did what he did, his childhood does not excuse him from being prosecuted the the full extent of the law.

On Sunday, November 13, 1842 a double murder occurred at Smith Farm in Old Fields, Long Island. The victims, Alexander Smith and and Rebecca Smith, were a wealthy, well- respected married couple who ran Smith farm. George Weeks, the Smiths farmhand, was reporting for work the monday after the murder and heard the dog barking from the work-shed by the Smiths house. George Weeks then became suspicious since the dog was usually inside with Mr. Smith. George then looked in the house and saw that the east room window was broken and Mr. and Mrs. Smith were lying on the floor covered in blood. The authorities showed up not long after. The Bodies were discovered on the floor in the front room with head wounds from a blunt force and appear to have been burned in the fireplace. Alexander Smith had three wounds on his head all coming from a weapon that would cause blunt force trauma. The Suffolk County Coroner concluded that two wounds were to the right Auditory Meatus. One wound was along the lambdoidal suture and the hair was driven into the head, and the other was on the Parietal bone, an inch and a half in length. The blunt

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.

From the beginning of the novel, Capote showcases Perry Smith a likable character. Although he ended up being one of the murderers of the Clutter family, the readers often felt sorry for him. In the beginning of the novel the reader finds out that Perry was actually very nervous about committing the crime, he and Dick were on the road to do. Capote made it seem like Perry

Although Perry is responsible for the murder of four innocent people, Perry’s actions do not reflect on who he is as a person because he is easily influenced, therefore; showing how easily people can be pressured into doing something they would not typically do.

Throughout In Cold Blood, Truman Capote hints at his own opinion of the death penalty, yet lets the readers decide for themselves what they believe Hickock and Smith's punishment should have been. When the murderers are being hanged, a conversation occurs between a reporter and an investigator about what it might feel like to be hanged: "'They don't feel nothing. Drop, snap, and that's it. They don't feel nothing.' 'Are you sure? I was standing right close. I could hear him gasping for breath.' 'Uh-huh, but he don't feel nothing. Wouldn't be humane if he did'" (340). Furthermore, Capote includes the amount of time before Lowell Lee Andrews and Dick Hickock died. From the time of hanging to the time their hearts ceased beating, it took nineteen and twenty minutes, respectively. Also, in preparation for the trial of the Clutter family murderers, doctors did psychiatric evaluations of the pair. Capote includes what the doctors would have said had they been allowed to elucidate during the trial. The evaluations suggest that Hickock and Smith might have been better off in a mental institution. By including the conversation at the hangings, the elapsed time before death, and the doctors' unspoken evaluation, Capote suggests that neither the death penalty nor hanging is always the best course of action for a person's crime. Contrastingly, the opposite opinion is revealed through the character Alvin Dewey in the book. Capote writes about Dewey’s beliefs on the case: “[The Clutter family] had experienced prolonged terror, they had suffered. And Dewey

Once the two culprits were captured, it was determined that they would be hanged for murder. However, the townspeople were unnerved by the seemingly innocent personality of Perry Smith. In Crime and Punishment in Kansas: Capote's In Cold Blood, George Garrett’s analysis of the novel, he states that Perry is Capote’s “sacrificial victim [who was meant] to ease the reader's reluctant conscience and to appease...the reader's taste for conventional morality” (Garrett, GALE). Perry’s disturbing past urges both the reader and the townspeople to view the culprit’s entire story from a moral standpoint. Thus, this causes them to empathize with him and question whether such a brutal punishment should be inflicted upon a man who may potentially have mental issues. The uncertainty that arises in the minds of the townspeople is portrayed in the prosecutor’s conversation with the newsman after Perry is hanged. The newsman states that he never killed four people in cold blood, to which the prosecutor replies that “hanging the bastard” is “pretty goddamn cold-blooded too” (Capote 306). In this statement, the prosecutor expresses his belief that it is not morally correct to hang a murderer who has had such a traumatic past without testing for any sign of mental illness or

It will never be known if Lewis did or didn 't stab anybody, but Lewis was there and evidence suggests he was involved. Lewis denied guilt in the stabbing.

Growing up Cole Matthews was abused.Physically by his father while intoxicated.To the point where he was numb, that's how severe the beating was.Emotionally he was abused by his mom.As Cole was getting beaten by his drunk father his mother would just sit there and watch him get beaten. That made him think that she didn't care about him because if she did she would have stopped his father

Five years after the inhumane execution of the Clutter family, the callous perpetrators, Perry Smith and Richard Hitchcock were executed for the heinous crime. Due to their many appeals, Hitchcock and Smith managed to defer their ultimately inevitable demise for several years. The appeals were filed on the behalf of Hitchcock, claiming that the trial was biased, as well as the jury and the judge. Each appeal led to the same conclusion, that the trail was unbiased. On April 14, 1965, Both Perpetrators were executed by hanging. Hitchcock, was the first of the pair executed. In his final moments, Hitchcock nonchalantly shook hands with everyone that attended his execution. Perry Smith was executed later the same evening, he stated a formal apology

Although Capote appears to validate Perry’s innocence, his true goal lies in proving the immorality of the death penalty, therefore, solidifying that vengeful acts serve no purpose, as they create more wrong than they do right.

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.

Drunk mom, dad leaving at such a young age, some of his siblings killing themselves and on top of all that getting abused a lot by his mom and the nuns that hit him when he was in catholic school.Well who was this this very ungood, bad childhood and different and that is Perry Smith.My client’s case is about 2 men Perry & Dick and they're doing is very shocking,that was Perry has killed a family of 4 the Clutter family & each were shot with a gun besides that Mr.Clutter had his throat slit.Previously,Dick was gonna kill them all but something suddenly happened and that was in Perry’s mind.They are not guilty at all but the fact that they will be charged with insanity because yes there has been something going on in Perry’s mind like something

Capote, while speaking with Smith, mentions that he still does not know what happened that night. Smith responding with hesitation, not wanting to share details with Capote. Capote then mentions leaving to visit Smith’s sister to find out more about him. Smith asked Capote not to go, but Capote did anyway. Upon returning from visiting Smith’s sister, Capote shows Smith a picture from his childhood and lies about his sister missing him. Hearing of his sister missing him and seeing the picture triggers an emotional response and Smith shares what happened the evening of the murders with

The Laws indictedaccused Joseph Smith with: blasphemy or using God's name in vain, committing murder, committing adultery, stealing and robbing from the gentiles, bearing false witness, and coveting the wives of other men (Ex. 20:3-17). William Law wrote in his diary four days later, ‘Conference is over, and some of the most blasphemous doctrines have been taught by Joseph Smith and others ever heard of such as…that Joseph Smith is a god to this generation,