'14 Days in May' - A Biased Report.
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Introduction
'14 Days in May' - A Biased Report Capital punishment is being punished in the worst possible way, by being put to death. Capital punishment has been around for many centuries. Although some see it as a deterrent, it has yet to be proven. With the exception of Turkey and the United States, the whole of NATO do not wish to use this method of punishment upon their criminals. At this moment in time, Iran and South Africa top the list of the legal killers. Although some think that the United States are the worst in dishing out capital punishment to their criminals, they are in a completely different league in comparison with Iran and South Africa. The documentary that we watched, '14 Days in May', was attempting to get the viewers against the idea of capital punishment. This documentary was very biased in that sense. The documentary showed the viewers what it was like from the view point of the convicted felon in an attempt to get the viewers against capital punishment. The documentary, '14 Days in May', was based upon the last 14 days in the life of a 28 year old black man called Edward Earl Johnson, hence the name 14 Days in May. ...read more.
Middle
Interviews with people who worked at the penitentiary and that had known Edward Earl Johnson for the 8 years in which he had been there were also included in the documentary. Everyone that had known Edward Earl Johnson, with the exception of the prison Governor, were 100 per cent positive that he was not guilty. I say with exception of the prison Governor because he was caught in two minds and he did not spend as much time with Edward Earl Johnson compared with the other prisoners, the warden, guards, etc. The other prisoners all believed that he was not guilty and they all felt as though they were all brothers. The fact that they said this, makes you wonder if not only Johnson was not guilty, but maybe too his fellow prisoners. Sympathy for Edward Earl Johnson filled the whole of Death Row to the day of his execution. The TV crew themselves had not known him for as long as the others, but they too knew that an innocent man's life was coming to an untimely end. These interviews reinforce Edward Earl Johnson's innocent to the viewers. The interviews back up the viewers first impressions of him, that he is an innocent man. It also makes you feel sympathetic for him, which I did when I watched the documentary. ...read more.
Conclusion
I feel that this documentary was very successful in persuading viewers that capital punishment is wrong. Before watching, I was caught in two minds over whether capital punishment is wrong or not. They were very persuasive as this prisoner that had capital punishment hanging above his head was not the type of criminal you would expect. He was not the type that you could say easily, "put him to death". The character of the prisoner was essential in the attempt to show capital punishment to be wrong. The fact that the prisoner did not look the type you would expect to be in prison, let alone on the verge of being put to death made me think that maybe capital punishment is not the right way to go about punishing criminals. After watching this documentary, I am now fully against capital punishment. People who commit these crimes should just be locked up in prison unless proven not guilty. But then some may argue that it is criminals that kill police officers, are child abusers and terrorists deserve to be put to death. But then again, the man in this documentary, Edward Earl Johnson, he was proven to have killed a police officer, so do you think that he too should be put to death? By Ricky Singh 10/78 ...read more.
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