14 Days in May - This documentary is about a black american citizen accused of killing a white police officer and raping a white woman.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

GCSE English Coursework

14 Days in May

This documentary is about a black american citizen accused of killing a white police officer and raping a white woman. The documentary is set in America. The prisoners name is Edward Earl Johnson, a religious man with a big family. He had spent eight years in prison on death row convicted of the crimes mentioned above. He was said to have shot the white police officer five times, and raped a white woman.

Life in the prison didn’t look bad for the prisoner. He was treated equally among all the other prisoners, regardless of colour, and all the prisoners were treated the same. The atmosphere in the prison was good, and calm. No-one was rude to anyone else, and no-one did anything bad or anything they were not supposed to. The prison staff had mixed feelings toward whether he was innocent or not. Some believed he was innocent, but others didn’t. The people who believed he wasn’t innocent may have believed it for different reasons, but I think one of the main reasons for this was prejudice. The prisoner himself was coping with the situation very well. Even though he knew there was a strong chance he would die, he was very calm. He prayed everyday, he slept soundly, and he was at peace with himself. The different people in the prison reacted and responded to the prisoner in different ways. The prison guards treated him well, as an equal to everyone else and themselves. The prison governer believed that the prisoner was guilty, but despite this, he didn’t treat him any differently to anyone else in the prison. The other prisoners treated him well. His family treated him well. They all believed he was innocent of all charges, and treated him as a proper member of their family. His lawyer also believed he was innocent, and treated him well. The T.V. crew treated him with caution when they were around him, since they hadn’t been there from the beginning and didn’t know whether the accusations were true or not.

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The execution had already been arranged. The prisoner was to be executed at 12.01am. The last people to spend time with the prisoner were his family. They comforted him, even though it looked like he didn’t need comforting and was ready to face up to his execution. His family watched as he entered the gas chamber, and then the gas was turned on. It took Edward Earl Johnson twelve minutes to die in the gas chamber. After the execution in the prisoners lawyers final statement he said “It’s a sick world.” By this he meant that a man had died for a cause that was not even properly confirmed. There is nothing to be gained by the killing of a human being for something which they have done. Even if a very bad crime was commited, then that is still not that much of a good reason for capital punishment, although the severity of the crime would be a key factor to whether the defendant in question would be capitally punished.

In the end of the documentary some very crucial information was given. For all of the time that this crime was going on, this crime that Edward Earl Johnson had supposedly done, he was in a poolhouse with a woman. This woman was black, and she came forward to the police to submit this information, but she was told to “go home and mind her own business” by a white police officer. This goes back to what the prisoners lawyer was saying. He was saying it was a sick world because a man completely innocent of the crime of which he had been accused died for it. The justice system failed this man. The reason for this is that a proper investigation was not carried out and the police just seemed to blame the first suspect they had. Race seemed to play a part in this failure of the justice system. The accused was black, and some police officers and law officials were most probably a bit racist. If these police had not have been racist, then these errors would not have occurred, and the defendant would have lived. Also the woman he was with for the whole time the crime was going on came forward to give vital information to the police, but she was not listened to and told to go home because she was black. If she had been listened to the prisoner would had a much better chance of release, and would not have been capitally punished.

This documentary made me feel angry in a way because an innocent man had been put to death for something which he had not done. It also made me think that there are some things wrong with the justice system, and it is not always right. Mistakes are made. In the film I found the fact that the prisoner was so calm. He knew he was going to be put to death for something which he had not, and yet he was still calm, and not angry or frustrated or annoyed. This documentary has influenced my opinions on the issue of capital punishment. A man was killed for something which he had not done. In my eyes this is very wrong. Capital punishment is a very extreme method of punishment. It should only be used when absolutely necessary, as human life is precious. This documentaruy has made me think that capital punishment should not be used as a form of punishment.

Rajeet Bhumber