Thursday, December 3, 2009
Who Should Be Killed?
During the final section of In Cold Blood, while on death row, Dick tries to get himself out of the death penalty by sending letters to various people saying that his lawyers did not put their full effort into his case, that the jury was biased and other complaints. Unfortunately this plan does not work out, although Dick did get some positive feedback. Dick and Perry are both executed. Do you think Dick should have been hanged, or that he should not have had the death penalty? Why or why not? What do you think Perry's opinion on Dicks fight for his life is? Do you think Floyd Wells should be punished for not trying to stop Dick from planning on killing the Clutters?
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Seeing as Dick did not kill any of the Clutters, some might think it reasonable that he not receive the death penalty. This, however, would not be fair.
ReplyDeleteFloyd Wells testified that it was Dick's idea to kill the Clutters in the first place because of the assumed safe in Mr. Clutter's office. Dick was looking for a partner and asked Perry to help him with this task. As the readers we do not know if Dick was planning on having Perry kill all the Clutters or if this just happened. Either way, Dick was the brains behind this execution and should be punished.
Perry wrote in his signed statement that he killed all four Clutters. He says in a conversation with an old army friend, "Am i sorry? if that's what you mean-i'm not. i dont feel anything about it. i wish i did" (291). I believe that Perry doesn't care if Dick gets off without or not. It is stated several times by other characters that Perry just doesn't care. i believe that this is true in this scenario as well. Perry has accepted the fact that he is going to die because of what he did and although he may be upset that his life is ending, he doesn't really care all that much. He is leaving no one behind. In Perry's situation i would be slightly annoyed at Dick because the plan was his idea and on death row he is trying to get out of his punishment, but Perry rarely shows emotion, the one time being in the ladies' cell before he is sent to the death row ward at the penitentiary.
Disagreeing with Dick i would say that it is very fair that Floyd Wells not be punished. He did rat out his friend, however he is doing the ethical and morally just thing by telling the police who killed the Clutters. As one of the lawyers defending Hickock and Smith states, Floyd did not take Dick's plans seriously and did not try to stop him. However, those are the only grounds for possible punishment and Wells did turn them in when he heard about the murders.
i believe that it was right for Dick to be hanged because he was the one to think of and enforce the plan of killing the Clutters.
It is true that some bias was present from the jury and that the lawyers did not try as hard as they could, but the outcome of a death penalty had to happen to both Dick and Perry. No one wants to die, no one wants to know his or her life has to be taken away, but Dick was in this rare situation. With his life at stake, he was willing to try anything to get out of this penalty but the letters he wrote did not work. I think it is right that Dick was hanged, throughout the whole time it was him who thoughts of killing the Clutters, and him who put himself in the situation of being killed. He deserves the worst penalty of death at the time and as a result he was given that. Perry is most likely mad, but not furious. He is mad that he wants to get his life saved after taking away four others. But throughout the whole time, this was his idea to kill and Perry feels that he should deserve what he gets. Floyd Wells on the other hand was a bystander to the situation. While he states earlier in section three, he never thought that Dick would go through with killing the Clutters and as a result never said anything to stop him. If anything he should be rewarded for his deed of confessing after knowing what could of happened to him.
ReplyDeleteIt was clear that in the trial of Dick and Perry that there was a bias to give them both the death penalty and that the lawyers didn’t give the effort that they normally would for a different client. In my opinion when you premeditate a murder of a group of people even if you do not kill anyone it is enough for the death penalty. What gives anyone the freedom to kill people and get away with not getting the death penalty. In the eyes of the jury I think they could’ve based it on the saying “an eye for an eye” so basically reciprocal justice. In Dick’s situation, he didn’t kill anyone but that doesn’t mean he wont and he was in on the scheme of things with the killer Perry therefore he was an accompass to the murder which in my eyes would give him the same punishment as Perry. I think that Dick’s action to try and argue this penalty is just his last resort to avoid death. I think Perry’s reaction would be sort of mild because if he were in dick’s position he would probably do the same so I don’t think he could get very mad unless there is a side of Perry that is not shown through out the book. Floyd wells shouldn’t be punished because otherwise they never would have caught Dick and Perry. Even though he didn’t try to stop Dick from going through with the murder, In all honestly he didn’t ever think that Dick would ever do it so I don’t think you can punish him for that.
ReplyDeleteDespite the fact that the jury was biased and that the lawyers provided for them were not fully invested in their clients, it would be absurd not to use the death penalty on Dick and Perry. I believe so strongly in this because not only did they kill four innocent people for money (even though there ended up not being any money), but more importantly, this murder was premeditated, of first-degree murder. This is the worst type of murder, and is punishable in all states that allow capital punishment by capital punishment, and in states where capital punishment is not allowed,
ReplyDeletefirst-degree murder is punishable by life in prison. I believe that Perry thinks of Dick’s desperate acts to escape death row are very childish, but not unexpected. Perry was infinitely more mature than Dick throughout the novel, and because of this fact, Perry most likely viewed Dick as a child. Because Perry was so much more mature than Dick, Perry’s opinion of Dick as a person most likely did not change, but it supported his belief on Dick’s personality. On the topic of Floyd Wells, I believe that there is no reason to punish Floyd. When Floyd revealed all of the information on the Clutters to Dick, there is no way he could have known how deadly this simple conversation could be. Once he finally realizes the effects of telling Dick about the Clutters, Floyd tells the police everything he knows, and is very helpful to the incarceration, and eventually the punishment of Dick and Perry.
It is difficult to reply to a situation like this with only one answer, as there are multiple domains that are involved. The reader knows how Dick and Perry obviously murdered the Clutters in cold blood. Dick and Perry also confessed to committing the crime, so the possibility of innocence is completely nullified. They do deserve one of the strongest sentences in law, but it is not always clear as to whether the accused deserve to die. Dick "officially" never killed any of the Clutters (although he murdered half of them in reality), but he is still an accessory to murder. By observing a murder without doing anything prevent it, he deserves the same sentence as the person who carried out the act (although Dick actually did murder two people). Whether the murderers should receive life in prison or death comes down to a moral preference. I think that life in prison and the death sentence are relatively equal, so either would have been appropriate. The law does not need to be very considerate of people who have committed quadruple homicide. I do think that the trial was not wholly fair. From a judicial perspective, the two murderers deserved better lawyers and a non-biased jury. Even if they had clearly killed the clutters, they should have had a chance to defend themselves against the law.
ReplyDeleteOn a separate note, Frank Wells was stupid in telling Dick about Mr. Clutter, but he is not guilty of any crime other than his lack of foresight. He had no way of knowing whether Dick would actually commit that crime. In prison, there are too many tough guys who 'cry wolf'.
I think that Dick is as great a contributor to the Clutter murders as Perry. They both broke the law, and both received a sentence that fit the crime. If Dick hadn't been the one to plan out virtually everything, and maybe tried to stop Perry I think he should have gotten a slightly less grave sentence that Perry. Although to some life in jail may be seen as a worse punishment than death. If perry had to guess whether or not Dick would act the way he did, i think Perry would guess he would. Perry did not seem to give to much interest in whether or not Dick gets the same punishment. Perry knows that Dick trying to weasel his way out is just what Dick does, and Perry is quite fancily sick of Dick. As for Floyd Wells, he did what he thought he should do. No one would have actually though Dick would do it, and murder wasn't even in the original plan. When he heard what had happened he told the authorities. There is not much more anyone would have thought to do if they were in his position. For this reason i believe that he should not face any punishment for the crime.
ReplyDeleteDick, even though it is said he did not kill any of the Clutter’s, he still was there. Without Dick in the story line, there would not have been a story. He was the one who did the planning and Perry just tagged along and was in it for the money. I agree with Dicks’ punishment being equal to Perry’s; without Dick’s plan there would have been no murder.
ReplyDeleteFloyd Wells also should not be punished. While telling Dick all the detailed facts about the Clutter family he merely thought that Dick would never follow through with such a crime. Wells would not have even known it had occurred until he heard about it from the radio, or reading the headlines in the paper. It would have been impossible for Wells to try and stop Dick.
Dick and Perry have finally been cornered for their crimes. The two murderers of the Clutter family must face justice for their crime. Even though their fate is inevitable, Dick still tries to prolong the agony as much as possible. He tells the court that the lawyers are not putting their best effort to defend him. It is uncertain if Dick is telling the truth or creating a way to prolong the death penalty that he knows is coming. The lawyers could be placing Dick and Perry on a silver platter because of their anger towards the murderers. The Clutters were a well-known and loved family. Dick and Perry made many enemies when they murdered this family. The lawyers may have been some of these enemies. However, they have every reason to hold a grudge against Dick and Perry. These two both deserve to hang for their crime. If I had to choose which one only had to serve a live sentence, I would say Perry should. Dick acts as though he is confident and in control, but once he is arrested, he tries to act innocent, which no one buys. Perry, on the other hand, is not so protective for his life. He is willing to join Dick on his escapade, which was Dick’s idea in the first place, but he regrets it later on. When he is asked to give a full account, he gives every detail of the murder. I am not justifying his crimes, and he deserves to hang as much as Dick does, but he has more of a right to escape death. However, I think that Perry wants to die. He has nothing else to live for. He is probably angry with Dick for trying to push away the execution. Perry accompanied Dick since the murder and Dick decides to acts like a coward when they get caught. He is probably feeling betrayed that the one man he thought he could count on, Dick, was willing to leave him to die. Floyd Wells seems to be in the middle of all the trouble of the Clutter case. Even though he is in jail for another crime, he is willing to risk more time in jail by telling information to the police. Floyd Wells should not have a punishment for doing the right thing. He had no way of knowing that Dick would actually kill the Clutters. That was out of his control. The hangman’s noose belongs to Dick and Perry, the people who committed the crime.
ReplyDeleteIt is my opinion that Dick should not be hanged for the murders that were committed. He himself did not murder anyone and therefore he is not responsible for murder in the first degree. This being said, I do not believe that Perry should not be hanged for the murders. Dick did allow for the murders to take place and he did indeed have the idea of killing the Clutter’s. Perry even states that Dick was too weak to kill anyone. Perry “wanted to fix Dick for being such a coward” (255). For this I do believe Dick should be punished but his soul is simply too pure to commit such an evil act and there is no reason to murder Dick. People voted to kill Dick because they were scared he would get out of prison and kill again. On page 303 it states, “There is only one way to assure that these men will never again roam the towns and cities of this land. We request the maximum penalty – death” (303). If he never killed in the first place, there is no reason why would kill a second time. One must remember, he “never touched a hair on a human’s head.” Furthermore, taking someone’s life is committing an act of murder and one is hypocritical to punish Dick for killing someone when they are going to kill someone as well. However, Dick did not commit the murder so he is being punished for Perry’s actions. Moreover, even if Dick is responsible for killing someone, he made a bad moral decision and he can’t learn from his mistakes if he receives the death penalty. Lots of people in society say they are going to kill people. They even have video games about killing people. Although one thinks about and says that they are going to kill someone, this does not mean they are necessarily going to do it. Floyd Wells should not be blamed for not stopping Dick due to this reason. Floyd Wells states, “I didn’t believe he would do it” (283). I believe that Perry does not care whether Dick is planning on escaping or not because he secretly knows Dick would never succeed. This is seen when Perry laughs at Dick for hiding the shiv. Perry is also concerned with himself and no one else because he has self-dependent all of his life. Therefore, Perry does care about his life and getting away because he cries and he had a plan to escape.
ReplyDeleteIn the ancient world there were many laws that laid down the idea that a murderer would be killed for their crime (an eye for an eye). Gandhi’s famous quote was, “An eye for and eye and the whole world is blind.” It is difficult to be sympathetic to these two brutal murderers who committed such terrible acts, but you could make the case that they are both insane. Perry was the one that killed all four Clutters, even though Dick was the one who planned the whole thing. The psychologist does not really help to testify that Perry is crazy and is capable of telling right from wrong. It is also true that the lawyers that represent Dick and Perry do not do a good job.
ReplyDeleteBy our laws, both Dick and Perry are guilty of first degree murder. The punishment for this is the death penalty in some states, but not others. If Dick and Perry could afford the best lawyers, they may well have avoided the death penalty and spent the rest of their lives in jail. Floyd Wells does not deserve to die for his part in the crimes. It is hard to say that he is really guilty of anything in this case.
My personal belief is that Dick was an accomplice and deserves the same fate as perry but, according to Capote Perry was Potentially insane at the time. although that is his own opinion. though our legal system says that even if perry walked for being temporarily insane (so to speak) dick would have had the death penalty because he was in a sane mind and was an accomplice. i believe that perry though needed help vs a "rope to hang from." perry was technically at the time temporarily insane according to the phycologist who never spoke his mind. according to Capote, perry was temporarily insane at the time of the murders. i think perry with the right help could have reentered society without this problem.
ReplyDeleteDick, Perry and Floyd Wells are all tied to the Clutter case; Dick deserves to be put in jail for life, Perry deserves to be executed and Floyd Well’s deserves the right to walk away a free man.
ReplyDeleteExecution may be a harsh punishment, but Dick does not deserve to walk away from the situation a free man. He deserves to be put in jail for life. When Dick walked into the Clutter house his plan was to take the money and kill any witnesses; however, Dick did not complete this task. Dick did not murder a single member of the Clutter family, Dick, “never touched a hair on a human’s head.” The reason the town want Dick to be killed is because they are afraid that Dick may try and kill again. They want to end a mans life, even though he never killed anyone; this to me seems unfair. Because the town view Dick has a threat to society they should put him in jail for life, he should never be set free, to ensure that he can not go out and attack them; but they can not kill a man that does not deserve it because that would make them as bad as Perry. They would be making the same mistake Perry made.
Perry killed the Clutter family and then tried to blame it on somebody else; he deserved the death penalty. Perry kills all four of the Clutter family; he can not blame that fact on Dick, but he tries to. Perry accepts the fact that he is going to die because he knows that what he did was an act of evil. Perry killed innocent people, so he deserves to be killed, “an eye for an eye.”
The only person innocent in this situation is Floyd Wells. It is true that Floyd Wells gave Dick the original background information on the Clutter family, but it is also true that he had no idea that Dick was serious about his future plans. When Floyd Wells gives his statement he risks everything; he risks going back in to jail. However, regardless of this he still steps forward and does the right and noble thing; which is more than can be said for Dick and Perry. When hearing Dick's plan Floyd Well's admits that he thought it was all a joke; he never believed Dick was serious about his plans (283). If Floyd Wells receives any form of punishment he should just not get the reward, but even that seems unfair.
Dick, Perry and Floyd Wells are all tied to the Clutter case; Dick deserves to be put in jail for life, Perry deserves to be executed and Floyd Well’s deserves the right to walk away a free man.
ReplyDeleteExecution may be a harsh punishment, but Dick does not deserve to walk away from the situation a free man. He deserves to be put in jail for life. When Dick walked into the Clutter house his plan was to take the money and kill any witnesses; however, Dick did not complete this task. Dick did not murder a single member of the Clutter family, Dick, “never touched a hair on a human’s head.” The reason the town want Dick to be killed is because they are afraid that Dick may try and kill again. They want to end a mans life, even though he never killed anyone; this to me seems unfair. Because the town view Dick has a threat to society they should put him in jail for life, he should never be set free, to ensure that he can not go out and attack them; but they can not kill a man that does not deserve it because that would make them as bad as Perry. They would be making the same mistake Perry made.
Perry killed the Clutter family and then tried to blame it on somebody else; he deserved the death penalty. Perry kills all four of the Clutter family; he can not blame that fact on Dick, but he tries to. Perry accepts the fact that he is going to die because he knows that what he did was an act of evil. Perry killed innocent people, so he deserves to be killed, “an eye for an eye.”
The only person innocent in this situation is Floyd Wells. It is true that Floyd Wells gave Dick the original background information on the Clutter family, but it is also true that he had no idea that Dick was serious about his future plans. When Floyd Wells gives his statement he risks everything; he risks going back in to jail. However, regardless of this he still steps forward and does the right and noble thing; which is more than can be said for Dick and Perry. When hearing Dick's plan Floyd Well's admits that he thought it was all a joke; he never believed Dick was serious about his plans (283). If Floyd Wells receives any form of punishment he should just not get the reward, but even that seems unfair.
My thought on this subject is that Dick and Perry should be equally punished. The reason that I think that is that Dick and Perry both had the same intentions going into that. They both intended on killing the Clutters no matter what they tell the judge and the jury. Dick and Perry both walked into the house and took part in the murder. Although Perry was the one to physically kill the Clutters with the gun, Dick did all he could to make sure it happened. And theoretically, if Perry had all of a sudden backed away and had not been able to shoot them, Dick would have done it without a doubt. They both should get the death penalty because at the end of the day, they both committed 1st degree murder, and they both know it wasn't an accident at all, it was their complete intention.
ReplyDeleteI think that Perry didn't really have any thoughts about Dick's letters, and I think that Perry truly didn't care. I assume that Perry knew that the judge would do nothing about it, considering Dick contributed to the murder of four innocent people. I think that Perry thought that no matter how hard Dick tried to get the jury and judge to change their minds, he knew that they would realize the general idea of the murder, which is that four innocent people were killed, and the people who did it, need to be gotten rid of.
I don't believe that Dick should be punished for helping Dick and Perry. The reason of that is because he innocently said to the Dick that there was a safe. Dick may have mentioned to Floyd that he wanted to kill Floyd, but Floyd never encouraged or discouraged. He truly had no reaction to the thought, which proves that he had no urge or want to kill the Clutters. He actually seemed quite fond of the family. If he had wanted the Clutters killed, he never would've reported Perry and Dick for their crime because that would've made people think he was a suspect, ergo possibly finding out he wanted them killed. All in all, Floyd Wells should not be punished as he barely even helped or encouraged the murder of the Clutters.
Both Dick and Perry deserved to be punished, though they deserved different degrees of punishments. Perry admitted to killing all four of the Clutter’s and therefore in a state where the death penalty is available it seemed the only choice. Perry should get the maximum penalty because of the brutality and number in which he murdered. As for Dick, he didn’t murder anyone as Perry admitted. But, Dick still deserves to be punished. Planning the crime and providing the weapon is punishable by law. If our system punishes someone for simple knowing information about a crime, planning one is a crime also. However, Dick should not have been given the death penalty. He should have received a punishment that fit his crime better. Dick should have received life imprisonment or a set amount of time to be served, not the death penalty.
ReplyDelete