When I think of the death penalty, I always think about how "an eye for an eye" is a horrible way to provide justice. But I never think about the officers who must carry out the death penalty in the states it is still legal. How do they feel? Are they cold, insensitive, unfeeling people? Are they able to live joyous and normal lives with friends and families? Being a person who doesn't believe in the death penalty, I worry for these people who are required to kill others. In Everything's an Argument, I found a particularly interesting article by Michael Osofsky called "The Psychological Experience of Security Officers Who Work with Executions". Through factual evidence, Osofsky provides his readers with an idea of what the officers must suffer through but his argument is lacking information regarding exactly what psychological changes and emotions the officers feel. With this hole in the article, his argument is a robotic regurgitation of information instead of the emotional roller coaster the article's title alludes to. Osofsky only barely scratches the surface of how the officers feel in the last three paragraphs of his article. This being said, Osofsky wastes time detailing the existing feelings regarding the death penalty and all the interviews he conducted with the officers, and in doing so, provides a weak answer to the implicit question of the article's title.
Osofsky dedicates his first three paragraphs to the explanation of the controversy of the death penalty which immediately turns me, as the read, off because this is not what the title of the article promised me. As a citizen of a culture accustomed to expressing it's opinion loud and proud, I already know what a touchy subject it is. According to Osofsky, "...a growing minority is horrified by the idea of state-ordered killing, regardless of the heineous nature of the crimes committed" (Osofsky 204). I know this. Most people know this. In high school, I had an ASL project where I had to pick a controversial topic to debate about. I picked the death penalty because I knew I could confidently debate anyone who was for it. So what is the purpose of explaining the controversy to an audience that most likely is already aware? The audience wants to know the officers feelings when they have to carry out the law in such a terrible way. Tell us about the emotional journey they have to go on Osofsky!
To waste more time before getting to the emotional aspect of the officers job, Osofsky explains the interviews and tests in agonizingly specific details. Yes, it is important to know how Osofsky eventually comes to his conclusion about the psychological effect on the officers but is it so important to know every last detail about the tests/interviews? To make things even worse, in my opinion, Osofsky tells his audience some of the problems the officers have with the death penalty such as the process taking too long. Why, oh why, Osofsky, is this important? The interviews and tests should have been briefly outlined. The main focus should have been the outcome of all the data, the conclusions Osofsky makes.
Finally, near the end of his article, Osofsky gets to the emotional impact the death penalty has on the officers but he states his findings in a way that is devoid of the emotion I would expect. We assume that having to kill people regularly would make the officers cold-hearted people who cannot function normally in civilized society. Yet Osofsky finds that "correctional officers become more reflective and take their job more seriously" (Osofsky 208). This is a joyous finding! The audience can breathe easier knowing the controversial issue doesn't ruin the personal lives and psyche of the officers required to carry out the duty. As happy as the news is, Osofsky continues to robotically tell the audience this. In doing so, he strips the joy away. I realize this article is for a research journal at Stanford but in phrasing his findings the way he does, Osofsky is generalizing the academic crowd as one without feeling. Stanford students crave an emotional connection with their fellow human beings just as much as the next person. Leaving out his stand on the death penalty and just slapping all the facts in the article with no allusion to emotion causes Osofsky to fall greatly below the expectation the title of the article demands. My question remains: what exactly is the psychological experience of security officers who work with executions?
Picture credit:
http://blog.lawyerahead.ca/canada-legal-news/death-penalty/
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