final form capital punishment

[ethan]

Capote is obviously against capital punishment which can be observed through his novel of "In Cold Blood." During the trial for Dick and Perry, the professional opinion of the psychologist was not allowed in court, so capote reveals what he would have testified. It explains that while Dick has had a severe head injury many years back, Dick had to ability to identify right from wrong. On the other hand, the psychologist is not sure to whether Perry is a paranoid schizophrenic or not due to his cruel past disabling his ability to make logical decisions. Capote provided the opinion to instill the question of whether it is right to kill the (insane/mentally incapable) in the reader. He questions if death row is morally right and just for those unable to distinguish right from wrong. If more information was given to the jurors before condemning people to death, maybe he would believe capital punishment is fair. 

[justingoshorn]

I agree with Ethan's position on Capote's view of capital punishment. I also believe that Capote had a special connection with the murderers and this influenced his view on their punishments. Throughout the novel, Capote demonstrates a sense of compassion towards specifically Perry. They were raised through similar childhoods and dealt with similar tragedies. As a result I believe it's possible that Truman Capote "puts himself in Perry's shoes." He realizes that he very easily could have been in Perry's position due to their similar backgrounds and this realization influences his view on capital punishment in a negative way.